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THE FORMATION OF THE REPUB- 
LICAN PARTY AS A NATIONAL 
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 



BY 

GORDON S. P. KLEEBERG, A.M., LL.M, 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1911 



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PREFACE 

The lack of an adequate work on the embryonic 
stage of the national organization of a great political 
party, which only a few years ago completed its first 
half century of record and accomplishment, may afford 
a sufficient justification for this essay. 

One phase of this study was undertaken by me at 
the suggestion of Professor William A. Dunning of 
Columbia University, and an essay based thereon was 
awarded the Chandler Historical Prize for 1905, in 
Columbia College, under the title of "The Formation 
of the Republican Party." Professor John W. Burgess 
then recommended an elaboration of that paper as a 
partial performance of the requirements for the Doc- 
torate in the Faculty of Political Science in Columbia 
University. Shortly afterward Professor Charles A. 
Beard called my attention to another phase of this sub- 
ject and upon this suggestion I began an investiga- 
tion of the unexplored field of the formation and de- 
velopment of the national organization and machinery 
of the Republican party. 

To my surprise I found that, although "political 
parties," in the words of Mr. Bryce, "are as old as 
popular government itself," and while certain phases 
of the organization of various political parties have 
from time to time been considered by writers on 
American politics, yet no attempt had ever been made 
to put together a systematic account of the structural 
development of the Republican party as a national 
organization. 

7 



8 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

Among the various engaging studies which the 
history of political institutions affords, the methods by 
which American political parties have created and de- 
veloped their organizations from the primary to the na- 
tional convention and built "a veritable net-work cover- 
ing the United States and its dependencies/' form 
certainly one of the most interesting. Beginning with 
voluntary practices without precedent or regularity, 
party machinery developed from generation to genera- 
tion, growing constantly more definite and more com- 
plete, until, finally, it has become "a veritable govern- 
ment without and within the legal government, — with 
its own army of officials, its congresses or conventions, 
its rules and customs and its methods for maintaining 
discipline in the ranks." 

The political party grew out of contention; from 
the very nature of its being it has been kept in the 
field of bitter controversy; by virtue of the functions 
exercised it has ever incurred a maximum of damaging 
criticism, while at the same time, in America at least, 
among all our varied and interesting institutions it has 
received a minimum of impartial scientific study and 
exposition; party machinery as such has been almost 
entirely ignored. 

Under these circumstances I began this study. 

Only that aspect of the matter which is concerned 
with the national organization is treated here and no 
attempt has been made to consider the question of Re- 
publican State organization. This work is not designed 
to be a political history nor an historical account either 
of the Republican party or of tlie political events of the 
years covered by the dissertation, but merely an attempt 
to sire for the first time an exposition of the formation 



PREFACE 9 

and development of the national organization and ma- 
chinery of that party, without relation to the issues 
which from time to time it placed before the country. 

The conflict over principles out of which the Re- 
publican party was born is dead and buried and we 
might almost say forgotten, but the organization, the 
practical working machine it created with its manifold 
ramifications from the local district club to the na- 
tional convention abides with us to-day. 

With pleasure I record my grateful acknowledg- 
ment to General Stewart L. Woodford and the late Mr. 
Cephas Brainerd who were kind enough to favor me 
with interviews about their personal recollections of 
the early days of the Republican party; to the 
Honorable James S. Clarkson for valuable information 
concerning the national committee; and also to Profes- 
sors Burgess, Goodnow, Dunning and Beard, of Co- 
lumbia University, for their generous interest and guid- 
ance in my course of study and for their many sugges- 
tions given during the preparation of this work. And 
to Mr. E. J. Myers, who also has given me valuable and 
helpful counsel and has sacrificed many hours to the 
tiresome task of reading copy and proof, I am under 
special obligations. 

To Professor Beard the debt is one which can be 
understood and appreciated only by the many students 
who have known his unfailing courtesy and considera- 
tion during their course of study. 

G. S. P. K. 
Xew York, May, 1911. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 
Introductory 15 

CHAPTER H 
The Republican National Conventions of 1856 and i860 23 



CHAPTER HI 

Development of the Republican National Nominating Machinery 
from 1864 to 1884 — The Call — Apportionment of Delegates — 
The Work of the Convention — Procedure in the Convention — 
The Four Great Committees of the Convention — The Work of 
the Committee on Credentials — The Work of the Committee on 
Permanent Organization — Rules and the Work of the Com- 
rhittee on Rules — The Platform and the Work o± the Committee 
on Resolutions — The Nomination of Candidates — The Notifica- 
tion of Candidates 83 



CHAPTER IV 

The Republican National Committee in its Origin and Development 
The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee 191 



Bibliographical Note 235 

List of W orks Consulted 239 

II 



CHAPTEK I 

Introductory 

The period from 1851 to 1859 is an age of transi- 
tion in which old political alignments in the United 
States were broken and gave place to new crystalliza- 
tions of voters; and in which also former political 
issnes were supplanted by the paramount contest over 
slavery in the Territories. 

The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill ^ in 1854 
sounded the death knell of the Whig party. The sec- 
tion of the bill which expressly repealed the Missouri 
Compromise demonstrated to opponents of slavery 
everywhere ^ that the Western Territory could be re- 

^ The Missouri Compromise, it was supposed, forever prohibited 
slavery in the Territory of Nebraska (the northern portion of the 
Louisiana Purchase). Stephen A. Douglas, chairman of the com- 
mittee on Territories in the Senate introduced this bill in 1854, M^here- 
in it was proposed to leave to the inhabitants of Nebraska the deci- 
sion as to whether or not they would have slavery. His bill declared 
that the slavery restriction of the Missouri Compromise, because 
"inconsistent with the principles of the legislation of 1850 (commonly 
called the Compromise Measures) was superseded by it," and was 
"hereby declared inoperative and void," and divided the great Ter- 
ritory of Nebraska into two parts, calling the northern portion 
Nebraska and the southern Kansas. Hereafter each Territory whether 
north or south of the parallel of 36° 30' should be perfectly free to 
admit or exclude slavery as its people should decide. This made 
a clear division between Northern and Southern Whigs as was evi- 
denced by the vote in the Senate on March 4th when the bill passed, 
every Northern Whig voting against it and nine Southern Whigs 
voting for it. 

^ New York Herald, October 13th and November loth, 1854. 

13 



14 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

served for free labor only by a powerful political party, 
definitely committed to the exclusion of tbat peculiar 
institution from this domain. 

On May 9th, 1854, the day after the passage of the. 
Bill by the House of Representatives, some thirty mem- 
bers of Congress, at the invitation of Israel Washburn 
of Maine, came together at the rooms of Thomas G. 
Elliott and Edward Dickinson of Massachusetts, and 
agreed to form a new party to be called the Republican 
party. ^ While those events were occurring in Con- 
gress, frequent non-partisan meetings were being held 
in many of the Northern States looking toward the 
formation of a new party, now that the old stereotyped 
party organizations were being rent asunder on the 
Kansas-Nebraska issue. This course was also warmly 
and persistently urged by many newspapers, especially 
by the New York Tribune. 

It was not long before the opponents of slavery ex- 
tension in the Territories began to draw together and 
assume the form of political organizations. One of the 
earliest, if not the earliest, of the movements that con- 
templated definite action toward the formation of a new 
party, took place in Ripon, Wisconsin, on February 28th, 
1854.^ After a thorough canvass, conference and gen- 
eral comparison of views, initiated by Mr. Alvan E. 
Bovay, a prominent member of the Whig party, among 
the Whigs, Free Soilers and Democrats of that town- 
ship, a call was issued signed by himself representing 



^H. Wilson, Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, II, 411; F. Curtis, 
The Republican Party, I, 179. 

^H. Wilson, Rise and Fall of the Slave Power, II, 410, 412; G. M. 
Harvey, The Chautauquan, September, 1897, vol. XVI, N. S., p. 643. 



INTRODUCTORY I5 

the Whigs, and by a representative of each of the other 
two parties, for a Republican meeting to consider the 
grave issues which were assuming an aspect of such 
alarming importance. The meeting was largely at- 
tended b;^ persons o f both sexes from the town and sur- 
rounding country and a resolution was adopted that, if 
the Nebraska Bill then pending in the Senate should 
pass, they would "throw old party organizations to the 
wind and organize a new party on the sole issue of non- 
extension of slavery." At a second meeting ^ held on 
the 20th of March, 1854, the day after the passage of 
the bill, in the same place, by formal vote of the as- 
sembly, the town committees of the Whig and Free 
Soil parties were dissolved and a committee of five, 
consisting of three Whigs, one Free Soiler and a 
Democrat was chosen to begin the work of forming a 
new party. 

Similar local organizations sprang up rapidly in 
other Northern States very soon after this radical de- 
parture made in Wisconsin. For example, in Illinois, 
local attempts made early in 1854 to disband the Whig 
party and form a new party were quite successful. In 
Maine, on August 7th, 1854, a meeting, in the nature of 
a delegate county convention,^ and one of the first 
regularly organized delegate conventions ^ which as- 

^ Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 47, 48 ; F. Curtis, 
The Republican Party, I, 174; Julian, Political Recollections, 144; 
New York Tribune, June 24, 1854. 

^W. F. P. Fogg, History of the Formation of the Republican Party 
in Maine. 

* Correspondence of Joseph H. Manley with Francis Curtis ; see 
F. Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 193, 194, 208, 211, also New York 
Tribune, August 20th, 1884. See also footnote to p. 22, infra. 



i6 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

sumed the name of Eepublican in a formal manner, was 
held at Strong and the Republican party was launched 
in that State. ^ 

Out of this disintegration of local organizations and 
reconstruction of local machinery proceeded at length 
new Republican State- wide organizations.^ 

The first Republican State mass convention ^ which 
adopted a platform and nominated a full State ticket 
was held at Jackson, Michigan, on July 6th, 1854.^ 
The example thus set was speedily followed in some 

^ F. Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 193. 

''Address of Wm. Barnes, Sr., of Nantucket, Massachusetts, the 
son-in-law of Thurlow Weed, delivered at the Golden Jubilee of the 
Republican party, Philadelphia, June 17th, 1906 (Published by A. B. 
Burke, Philadelphia, 1906). See footnote to page 38, infra. 

Hon. William Barnes, Sr., a lawyer of Nantucket, Massachusetts, 
and the son-in-law of Thurlow Weed was actively identified with the 
convention which nominated Fremont and the later one which nom- 
inated Lincoln. His son, William Barnes, Jr., is the editor of the 
Evening lournal at Albany and at present the State chairman of the 
Republican party in New York. The writer was informed by Gov- 
ernor Stewart L. Woodford, that Mr. Barnes, Sr., kept a diary during 
all the early years of the Republican party and that he was probably 
the most accurately informed of any of the early living Republicans. 
The writer has had the privilege of corresponding with Mr. Barnes 
and had hoped to have, prior to the publication of this work, the ad- 
vantage of reading some of his reminiscences concerning the early 
Republican party movements with which Mr. Barnes was so actively 
connected and which he was advised were in course of publication, 
but the necessity of completing this work within the prescribed time 
limit has prevented this. 

®A complete record of the convention may be found in the Detroit 
Free Democrat, and the Jackson Citizen, July 7th, 1854. (Cited in 
Curtis, I, 181 et seq.) 

* Life of Zachariah Chandler, pubHshed by the Detroit Post and 
Tribune, 1880, page 109 et seq. F. Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 
180, et seq. Hon. John Hay, Secretary of State of the United States 
delivered a famous address here July 6th, 1904, the fiftieth anniversary 
of the birth of the Republican party in that State. 



INTRODUCTORY I7 

form in other States. At Montpelier, Vermont, on 
July 13th, 1854,^ a convention was held which selected 
a delegation to a national convention (in case one 
should be called), consisting of one Free Soiler, three 
WTiigs and one anti-slavery Democrat. Also at Madi- 
son, Wisconsin, on the 13th of July, 1854,^ a conven- 
tion was held, at which a ^^Republican" State executive 
committee was chosen and the organization of the 
new party in that State further perfected. Republi- 
can conventions were likewise held at Columbus, Ohio,^ 
and in the State of Indiana * on the same day ^ as 
in Vermont and Wisconsin. The convention at Colum- 
bus was in the nature of an anti-Nebraska mass con- 
vention. A State organization was formed similar to 
that at the Jackson convention,^ and while the name 
Republican was not adopted until the following year, 
the movement resulted in sending a solid anti-Nebraska 
convention to Congress by a large majority.'^ In In- 
diana also the name Republican was not formally em- 
ployed until the following year but an anti-slavery 
platform was put forth and a ticket nominated.^ 

^ F. Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 193. 
^ Life of Chandler, supra, 113. 
^ Shucker, Life of Chase, 165. 

*G. W. Julian, Political Recollections, 144; T. C. Smith, Liberty 
and Free Soil Parties in the Northwest, page 290. 

" The day was chosen because it was the anniversary of the enact- 
ment of the Ordinance of 1787 and for the same reason was selected 
by Wisconsin, Vermont and Indiana (Rhodes, History of the United 
States, II, 49). 

*T. C. Smith, Liberty & Free Soil Parties in the Northwest, 295. 

^ Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 60. 

' T. C. Smith, Liberty & Free Soil Parties, etc., page 290, et seq. 



i8 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

One of the earliest local mass meetings, at which 
the name "Kepublican" ^ was adopted, was that held at 
Friendship, Alleghany County, New York, on May 16th, 
1854,2 called through the efforts of A. N. Cole, the 
editor of the Genesee Valley Free Press. At this meet- 
ing a committee was appointed to call a nominating 
convention, which subsequently met pursuant to this 
call at Angelica, New York, October 18th, 1854, and 
nominated county officers. This was followed by county 
mass meetings, under the name of "Republican" at 
Albany, July 28th, 1854, and New York City, August 
8th, 1854,^ at both of which delegates were elected to a 
State convention to be held at Saratoga Springs, August 
16th, 1854. The example set by Albany and New York, 
was followed by all the other counties in the State 
except three.* 

The convention, composed of the delegates aggregat- 
ing between 400 and 500,^ appointed at the several 
county mass meetings, met at Saratoga on the 16th of 
August, 1854,^ and was the first regular delegate State 

^Address of Wm. Barnes, Sr., etc., page 71. 

^Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 202, et seq.; Address of Wm. 
Barnes, Sr., etc., see footnote to page 16, supra; Rhodes, History 
of the United States, II, 65. 

'New, York Tribune, August 8th, 1854. 

* Suffolk, Schoharie and Schenectady. 

' Proceedings of the Saratoga Springs Semi-Centennial, held Sep- 
tember 14, 1904 (two pamphlets printed and published by Wm. Barnes, 
Sr.). 

'Ibid. 

Five delegates were sent from each Assembly district in the State. 
These delegates were appointed by mass meetings in each county, 
some attended by more than 1,000 voters. 



INTRODUCTORY 19 

convention of the Republican party held in New York/ 
though the convention itself took no definite action to- 
ward the formation of a new party, save endorsing ^ 
the policies of those States ^ which had already taken 
steps in that direction. It then adjourned to meet on 
September 26th, at Auburn. At this adjourned meet- 
ing a proposition to form a new party was introduced 
and debated but failed of adoption. A State ticket how- 
ever was nominated and a State committee appointed. 

In the following year the New York Whigs under 
the leadership of William H. Seward joined the Re- 
publican ranks, thus greatly adding to the strength of 
the New York Republican State organization. 

On September 26th, 1855, the Republican and Whig 
State committees having called respective State conven- 
tions to meet on that day at Syracuse, the Whigs, who 
had met in a separate hall, marched in a body into the 
Republican State convention, participated in it, and 
helped to adopt a strong anti-slavery platform and to 

^Springfield Republican (cited by Curtis, I, 205), August 17, 1854. 

See also Semi-centennial of the Republican Party, Proceedings at 
the Celebration at Saratoga Springs, September 14, 1905, by William 
Barnes, Sr., one of the delegates from Albany County to the Saratoga 
Convention, August 16, 1854. 

Mr. Wm. Barnes, Sr. regards this as the first regular delegate 
state convention of the Republican party ever held and maintains 
that the Jackson convention mentioned above was called as a mass 
convention and not as a regular delegate convention. He therefore 
claims that the foundation of the party was not laid at Jackson, 
Michigan as many contend but in the State of New York. 

^ Springfield Republican, August 18, 1854. (Cited by Curtis, I, 205.) 

' Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan. 



20 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

nominate a State ticket under the name "Kepub- 
lican."^ 

In Massachusetts, a State mass convention was held 
at Worcester, July 20th, 1854,^ and over 2500 persons 
responded to the call, which had been issued by a large 
number of the leading public men of the State. ^ A 
set of resolutions or platform was adopted and a call 
issued for a Eepublican State nominating convention, 
which met at Worcester, September 7th* of that year, 
nominated a State ticket under the name "Repub- 
lican," and adopted a platform.^ The Republican State 
organization was further perfected in the State of Mas- 
sachusetts in the following year by a State convention 
held at Worcester on September 20th, 1855,^ at which 
Nathaniel P. Banks, later to become the first Repub- 
lican Speaker of the House of Representatives, presided. 
It formally adopted the name "Republican," appointed 
a large and able State central committee, nominated a 
full State ticket and promulgated an elaborate plat- 
form. 

Several States which had failed to organize a Re- 
publican party in 1854, did so in 1855. It was in that 

^ New York Tribune, September 27, 1855. 

^Springfield Daily Republican, July 21st, 1854. (Cited by Curtis, 
I, 195.) 
^ Ibid, July 10, 1854, Ibid. 
*Ibid, September 8th, 1854. Ibid. 

^The full text of the resolutions is pubHshed in the Springfield 
Daily Republican of September 8, 1854, and in Curtis, The Republican 
Party, I, 200. 

*A full account of the proceedings of the convention together with 
the platform is to be found in the Springfield Daily Republican, 
September 21, 1855. (Cited by Curtis I, 200.) 



INTRODUCTORY 21 

year that Ohio came into line, by completing a Repub- 
lican organization.^ A delegate State convention was 
called in that State and a State ticket under the name 
"Republican" nominated, and subsequently elected.^ 

The first State convention of the Republican party 
in Pennsylvania was held at Pittsburg on the 5th of 
September, 1855,^ at which a full State ticket was nomi- 
nated and a platform adopted, under the name of "Re- 
publican." 

Later, but none the less effectively, Illinois perfected 
her Republican State organization, by holding a Repub- 
lican State convention at Bloomington on May 29th, 
1856, at the call of some fifteen Illinois editors of 
anti- Nebraska newspapers. At this convention, a plat- 
form was adopted, a Republican State ticket nominated 
and delegates appointed to the national Republican 
convention ^ to be held at Philadelphia in the follow- 
ing month. 

Connecticut was one of the last Northern States to 
form a regular distinct Republican State organization.^ 
Although a Republican convention had been held at 
Hartford in that State in the spring of 1856, to 
nominate candidates for State offices, it was a mass, 
meeting rather than a delegate convention and it was 
not until 1858 that a regular Republican convention 



New York Tribune, June 28, 1855. 

Pike, First Blows of the Civil War, 299. 

A. K. McClure, Our Presidents and How We Make Them, 136. 

See infra, page 38. 

F. Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 226, 228. 



22 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

was called, by means of a State committee, and the 
party may be regarded as organized in that State. 

Thus at the opening of the presidential year, 1856, 
Eepublican groups, having come into being during the 
two preceding years almost simultaneously ^ in dif- 
ferent parts of the West, in New England and in the 
Middle States, the party, through the formation of 
committees and the holding of mass and delegate, State 
and local conventions, had reached a high degree of 
organization (as far as local units were concerned) 
and had developed, in many States, State-wide ma- 
chinery for the promulgation of its political principles 
and purposes. This was now ready to be built into an 
imposing national machine in accordance with the ap- 
proved traditions of the older political parties. 

^ "The place and the time where the RepubHcan party was first 
organized will, I presume, remain Hke the birthplace of Homer, .a 
subject of unending dispute. Seven cities claimed the latter and seven 
States may claim the former." (Address of James G. Blaine, deliv- 
ered at Strong, Maine, August 19, 1884, published in the New York 
Tribune, August 20, 1884.) 



CHAPTEE II 

The Eepublican National Conventions 
OF 1856 AND 1860 

The Eepublican party having been formed in the 
various Northern States, the next step was to establish 
unity among these neAv local organizations and prepare 
for the presidential campaign of 1856. Its first in- 
fluence of a national character was seen in the Thirty- 
fourth Congress when, on the hundred and thirty-third 
ballot, Nathaniel P. Banks was elected as the first Ee- 
publican speaker of the House of Eepresentatives. 

In a sense, of course, the birth of the Eepublican 
party can be traced to the movements described in the 
preceding chapter. In fact, many ascribe its origin to 
the Free- Soil party which appeared in 1848, but, as a 
formal national machine, the Eepublican party was 
not ready for concerted work until 1856, when its first 
national convention met at Philadelphia and the or- 
ganization of the party for the nation at large took 
place. 

The germ ^ of this national organization was formed 

*Mr. Clephane has compiled an interesting pamphlet on the birth 
of the Republican party in which the claim is very broadly made 
that the initiatory proceedings toward the organization of the Re- 
publican party were commenced by the Republican Association 
of Washington in 1855, and lead up to the February convention in 
Pittsburg in 1856. It is the old case of the many cities claiming 
"Homer dead," but it certainly was the germ of the national organiza- 
tion. 

23 



24 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

in the City of Washington on the 19th of June, 1855. 
On that date, "The Kepublican Association of Washing- 
ton, District of Columbia" was created, — in reality, 
little more than a small club of which Lewis Clephane 
was the secretary — and it issued a "Declaration, Plat- 
form and Constitution," the preamble of which was as 
follows : 

Whereas, by the repeal of the eighth section of the act 
for the admission of Missouri into the Union, the Territories 
of Kansas and Nebraska have been opened to the introduc- 
tion of slavery and all the compromises real or imaginary 
upon that subject are thus violated and annulled and deep 
dishonor inflicted upon the age in which we live. 

Now, therefore, in co-operation with all those throughout 
the land who oppose this and other similar measures which 
we deem to be contrary to the spirit of the Constitution and 
which are designed to extend and perpetuate slavery, we 
do associate ourselves together under the name and title of 
The Kepublican Association of Washington, District of 
Columbia. 

The platform ^ embodied the principle "that Con- 
gress possessed no power over the institution of 
slavery in the several States but that outside of State 
jurisdiction, the constitutional powers of the Federal 
government should be exerted to secure life, liberty 
and happiness to all men," and that, "therefore there 
should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- 
cept for the punishment of crime, in any of the Terri- 
tories of the United States." 

'No president was elected at the first meeting of the 

^The full text of the platform is printed in F. Curtis, The Repub- 
lican Party, I, 249. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 25 

Association, and although efforts were made to induce 
Francis P. Blair, Sr., to accept the office, he declined. 

Little more was heard of the Association until Jan- 
uary 17th, 1856, when it issued a circular to the friends 
of the Republican movement throughout the United 
States appealing to the country to organize similar 
clubs. It was entitled "A Circular to the Friends 
of the Republican Movement throughout the United 
States." 

The paper was signed by Daniel R. Goodloe, H. S. 
Brown and Lewis Olephane and stated that the signers 
had been appointed a committee on behalf of the As- 
sociation to issue this circular letter to all Republican 
friends urging upon their attention the importance of 
organizing clubs or associations in every city and town 
to carry on a political campaign. The purpose of the 
Association was stated to be "to act in concert with the 
Republican members of Congress and all associations 
that may be formed throughout the States similar to 
our own as a ^National Committee' ^ for the dissemina- 
tion of political information among the masses." The 
circular likewise stated, "We have taken a hall in a 
central position, established a reading room for the 
benefit of our visiting Republican friends and have 
made arrangements for the issue in phamphlet form 
of all important speeches that may be made during the 
present Congress" and closed with a request for the 
prompt formation of a local association and the open- 



^This, although often referred to as the earliest Republican national 
committee was not a national committee in the sense in which the 
term is employed to-day in political literature. See infra, chapter IV. 



26 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

ing of correspondence with the Washington Associa- 
tion. 

The Association published and distributed among 
the people a number of pamphlets favoring the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. ^ Much of the labor 
attending its operation was performed by members of 
the Association without any pecuniary consideration 
as it had no other fund at its disposal than what it 
realized from the sale of its publications .and the 
voluntary contributions of its members and friends. 

About the same time the Pittsburg Gazette, the most 
pronounced anti-slavery Whig paper in Pennsylvania, 
became extremely active in the Republican cause. Its 
editor Mr. D. N. White and his assistant Mr. Russell 
Errett toward the close of the year 1855, were consulted 
by David Wilmot of Pennsylvania and Lawrence Brai- 
nerd of Vermont (chairmen of the Republican State 
committees of their respective States) and a definite 
line of action was agreed upon.^ Up to this time, 
with the exception of the Washington Association's 
efforts, no definite attempt had been made anywhere or 
by any person to weld the various local organizations, 
which had sprung up, into a national party. 



'^"Republican Campaign Documents of 1856. A collection of the 
most important speeches and documents issued by the Republican 
Association of Washington, D. C, during the Presidential campaign 
of 1856." Published by Lewis Clephane, Secretary of the Republican 
Association, Washington, D. C, 1857; also a preface by Lewis 
Clephane. 

^Address of Mr. William Barnes, Sr., of Nantucket, Massachusetts, 
delivered at the Golden Jubilee Celebration of the Republican party 
June 17th, 1906, at Philadelphia. (Published by A. B. Burk, Phila- 
delphia, 1906.) 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 27 

As a result of their conferences a call for a conven- 
tion signed by two of these men, Brainerd and Wilmot, 
was issued from Washington, D. C, on January 17th, 
1856, the same day on which the Washington Associa- 
tion issued its "circular.'- 

When first issued it was signed by the chairmen 
of the Republican State committees of five ^ States 
and read as follows: 

To the Republicans of the United States: 

In accordance with what appears to be the general desire 
of the Kepublican Party, and at the suggestion of a large 
portion of the Republican press, the undersigned, chairmen 
of the State Republican Cominittees^ of Maine, Vermont, 
Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, 
Indiana and Wisconsin, hereby invite the Republicans of 
the Union to meet in informal convention at Pittsburg, on 
the 22nd of February, 1856, for the purpose of perfecting the] 
National organization and providing for a National Delegate \ 
Convention of the Republican Party at some subsequent day 
to nominate candidates for the Presidency and Vice-Pres- 
idency to be supported at the election in November, 1856. 

A. P. Stone, of Ohio. 
J. Z. Goodrich, of Mass. 
David Wilmot, of Pa. 
Lawrence Brainerd, of Vt. 
William A. White, of Wis. 

Except for the fact that Wilmot, Brainerd, White 
and Errett were instrumental in the issuance of the 
call, little else seems to be known of its exact origin. 

^ Other signatures were subsequently added. 

^This self-appointed body did not style itself a national committee 
though to some extent it might have done so. See infra, Chapter IV. 



28 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

Apparently no record of the meeting of these chair- 
men is in existence and it seems donbtful whether 
they ever formally met. The inference would be that 
it was arranged by correspondence and by casual meet- 
ings between the various signers at Washington. The 
late Mr. Cephas Brainerd/ who favored the writer with 
an interview, was of the opinion that these gentlemen, 
who were all Senators or Congressmen, knew one an- 
other from having met at various times in Washington 
or at political gatherings elsewhere and that the call 
was probably arranged by correspondence and sent 
from one to the other to be signed. This would ac- 
count for the fact, noted above, that when first issued 
it only bore the five signatures shown above and that 
others were subsequently appended. This view is 
shared by General Stewart L. Woodford,^ with whom 
the writer was also fortunate in obtaining an inter- 
view. 

The Kepublican Association of Washington doubt- 
less had some share also in the issuance of the call of 
January 17th, 1856, and probably took an active part 
in the preliminary arrangements.^ 

In 1856, pursuant to separate preliminary corre- 
spondence, and to the above call from the Republican 

^ Mr. Brainerd was a distant relative of the signer of the call of 
the similar name and was himself active in Republican politics a 
year or so later, serving on the committee which arranged for 
Lincoln's famous Cooper Institute speech in New York, February 
27, i860. 

^ General Woodford was secretary of the Republican central com- 
mittee of the State of New York (the predecessor of the present 
county committee) in 1857. 

^Leslie's History of the Republican Party, I, Chapters I and II. 
G. O. Seilhaimer (1900). 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 29 

State chairmen of Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, 
New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and 
Wisconsin, a general meeting of prominent Kepublicans 
and anti-Nebraska politicians from all parts of the 
North and even from a few slave States took place at 
Pittsburg on February 22nd. ^ On the evening of Feb- 
ruary 21st an informal meeting of delegates to the con- 
vention was held in the parlors of the Monongahela 
Hotel, Pittsburg, for the purpose of making the prelimi- 
nary arrangements for the convention. After consulta- 
tion it was decided to have the several delegations 
select one man from each State and request these men 
to meet at eight o'clock next morning. At that meeting 
a plan for the organization of the convention, including 
the selection of Hon. Francis P. Blair, Sr., for pres- 
ident of the convention was adopted, and the Keverend 
Owen Lovejoy was selected to open the convention with 
prayer. 2 

The report of the proceedings of the convention in 
the newspapers of the time was meagre and inade- 
quate.^ It was published in pamphlet soon after the 
convention had adjourned, but covered only a few pages, 
being a mere skeleton of what happened and is even less 
satisfactory than the newspaper reports, because it 
gives the reader no conception of the spirit and char- 
acter of the gathering. No roll of the members was 

^Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 118. 

^ Proceedings of the First Three Republican National Conventions, 
including Proceedings of the antecedent National Convention held at 
Pittsburg, published by order of the Republican National Convention 
of 1892. 

' E. g. Horace Greeley's report to the New York Tribune, February 
21 St and 22nd, 1856. 



30 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY '' 

preserved, and the several histories of political par- 
ties and conventions which have since appeared, con- 
tain little more than a mere reference to the subject. 
Mr. George W. Julian has written admirably about 
this early Eepublican gathering in the American His- 
torical Keview/ and was officially and somewhat ac- 
tively connected with its proceedings. 

An exhaustive search of the records and a close 
examination of the Pittsburg papers, published at that 
time, revealed about 260 persons who were members of 
the convention; there may have been more, if so, their 
names were not recorded by themselves nor were they 
noted by others and in 1906 there were apparently but 
ten survivors. 2 A contemporary writer, however, esti- 
mated the number who attended at from three to four 
hundred.^ 

Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania sent the largest 
contingents to the convention but around this nucleus 
were gathered small but earnest delegations represent- 
ing twenty-eight States and Territories, not only the 
free States but also Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina 
and Missouri.* 

It was not a convention of delegates selected by con- 
stitutent assemblies of the people but a mass conven- 

^ American Historical Review, IV, 313. 

^Address of William Barnes, Sr., delivered at the Golden Jubilee of 
the Republican Party, Philadelphia, June 17, 1906 (Published by A. B. 
Burk, Philadelphia, 1906). 

'B. R Hall, The Republican Party, 446-460 (1856). 

*A good contemporary account is found in B. F. Hall, The Repub- 
lican Party, 446-460 (1856). 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 31 

tion of men, "self-appointed delegates," ^ who favored 
the formation of a great national anti-slavery-extension 
party and volunteered their services in the undertak- 
ing. Though appearing from different States, the so- 
called delegates at the Pittsburg convention represented 
no one save themselves.^ "Its members came together 
in the dead of T\dnter when no candidates were to be 
nominated and no of&ces were to be divided. Probably 
a majority of them had passed the meridian of life, 
but all seemed equally in earnest and absorbed in their 
work. The great body of the members had never de- 
voted themselves to the business of politics. They 
were building better than they knew.''^ The conven- 
tion was in session two days and its purpose was fully 
accomplished. Eadicals and men of conservative type 
were there — Giddings and Lovejoy, Julian of Indiana, 
Chandler of Michigan and King of New York. 

The convention assembled at 11 o'clock in Lafayette 
Hall. It was called to order by Hon. Lawrence Brain- 
erd of Vermont, who read the call upon which it had 
convened and asked John A. King of New York, a son 
of Eufus King, to act as temporary chairman. After 
brief and appropriate remarks Mr. King called on the 

^Addison B. Burk, in an address at the Golden Jubilee of the 
Republican party at Philadelphia, June 17th, 1906, says : "The Pitts- 
burg convention was a meeting of self-appointed delegates seeking 
to found a new party." ****** 

"This was " the most spontaneous convention in the history of 
American politics. The delegates were not chosen by any settled 
rule. * * ♦ The delegates met as delegates of the same party 
for the first time and most of them were unknown to each other. 
* * * The party was young, it was a young men's party and a 
young men's convention." 

'Julian, American Historical Review, IV, 313, supra, page 30. 



32 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

Reverend Owen Love joy, who was present as a repre- 
sentative from Illinois, to open the proceedings with 
prayer.^ 

A committee on permanent organization, consisting 
of one member from each State and Territory, was 
then appointed by the chairman, and while it was en- 
gaged in its work in an adjoining room, the assemblage 
listened to the speeches of Horace Greeley, Lovejoy and 
Giddings. 

This differed from the method subsequently adopted 
for the appointment of the committee on permanent or- 
ganization in Eepublican national conventions, which, 
as we shall see later, consisted of one delegate from 
each State and Territory, selected by the several dele- 
gations respectively.^ 

A resolution was adopted that a committee of one 
delegate from each State, Territory and the District of 
Columbia be appointed to draw up an address and 
resolutions for the consideration of the convention and 
that a similar committee on national organization be 
formed. 

Of the first day's meeting, Horace Greeley said in 
the New York Tribune ^ : "The Eepublican convention 
has completed its first day's session and has accom- 
plished much to cement former political differences and 
distinctions and to mark the inauguration of a National 
party based upon the principle of freedom. The gather- 

^The name of Lovejoy was an inspiration for it recalled the mur- 
der of his brother by a mob at Alton, in 1837 for merely exercising 
his Constitutional right of free speech in a free State in talking about 
slavery. 

^ See infra, page 67. 

' New York Tribune, Feb. 23, 1856. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 33 

ing is very large and the enthusiasm is unbounded. It 
combines much character and talent with integrity of 
purpose and devotion to the great principles which un- 
derlie our government; its moral and political effect on 
the country will be felt for the next quarter of a cen- 
tury * * * The day has been principally occupied 
by the committees in preparing their reports, and by 
the delegates in committee of the whole in listening to 
speeches from eminent gentlemen who represent the 
several States. The business of perfecting a National 
organization will come up to-morrow forenoon. Ad- 
journed." 

Greeley's reports,^ sent by magnetic telegraph to the 
Xew York Tribune^ gave to the Pittsburg convention 
or meeting factitious importance and by this means 
greatly helped, by adding to its dignity and importance, 
to prepare the way for a real organization of the 
new party at Philadelphia in the following June.^ Re- 
ferring to these dispatches in an address delivered at 
the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Eepublican party 
in Philadelphia, June 17th, 1906, Mr. Addison B. 
Burk called them the ' 'successful efforts to boost a 
cause that at the time needed artifical stimulation." 

The usual parliamentary routine was followed on 
the second day. The convention met at 9 o'clock; the 
several committees not being ready to report, time was 
occupied in listening to ten minute speeches by repre- 
sentatives of the different States, giving an account of 



^ Vide, also the dispatches of Feb. 21 and 22, 1856, from Pittsburg 
to the N. Y. Tribune of those dates. 

^ Leslie's History of the Republican Party, Chapters I and II ; G. O. 
Seilhaimer. 



34 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

the progress of free principles in the various sections 
of the Union. 

Simeon Draper for the committee on organization, 
reported the permanent officers of the convention: for 
president, Francis P. Blair of Maryland, and for vice- 
presidents, one from each State and Territory repre- 
sented. 

The committee on national organization, consisting 
of one member from each State and Territory was ap- 
pointed by the chairman and this committee through 
its chairman Mr. George W. Julian recommended to 
the assembly the holding of a Republican national 
convention for the nomination of candidates for Pres- 
ident and Vice-President at Philadelphia on the 17th 
of June (the anniversary of the battle of Bunker 
Hill), to consist of delegates from each State double 
the number of its representation in Congress, (fol- 
lowing the model of the other party conventions^). 
The committee also proposed that the Republicans of 
each State be recommended to complete their organiza- 
tion at the earliest moment by the appointment of State, 
county and district committees and the formation of 
clubs in every town and township throughout the land. 

The appointment of a national executive committee 
to consist of one member from each State represented 
in the convention and one from the District of Colum- 
bia and one from Kansas, with Morgan of New York as 
chairman, and Banks, Chase, Wilmot and Blair among 

^In the Anti-Masonic convention of 1831, the first regularly con- 
stituted national nominating convention ever held in this country 
congressional representation was taken as the rule of party presenta- 
tion and furnished a precedent for all subsequent conventions. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 35 

its members, was also recommended by the committee 
on national organization.^ 

The report of the committee on national organiza- 
tion further recommended that the national executive 
committee be authorized to add to their number one 
member from each State not represented and to fill 
vacancies.^ The recommendation with regard to the 
proposed national convention was on motion of Mr. 
Lovejoy amended so as to make the delegates to the na- 
tional convention consist of three from each Congres- 
sional district. "The report of the committee on na- 
tional organization, as thus amended, was adopted and 
the national Republican party became a fact."^ 

This committee on national organization was a nov- 
elty in national conventions. It was formed to meet 
the peculiar necessities of the case and its function was 
to get the party under weigh nationally. Having accom- 
plished this it ceased to exist and no similar committee 
has ever been appointed in any subsequent Republican 
national convention. It was not the forerunner of 
the present Republican national committee. This we 
find rather in the national executive committee, the 
formation of which the committee on national organ- 
ization recommended, for it was this executive com- 
mittee which, as we shall see, issued the call for the 
first Republican national convention, and generally as- 
sumed the duties of a national committee. 

^American Historical Review, IV, 319 (G. W. Julian), supra. 

^ The details of the proceedings in the convention are found in Pro- 
ceedings of the First Three Republican National Conventions includ- 
ing Proceedings of the antecedent National Convention held at Pitts- 
burg as compiled by Charles W. Johnson, Secretary of the conven- 
tion of 1892. 

^American Historical Review, IV, 320 (G. W. Julian). 



36 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY .. 

The executive committee, organized at the Pittsburg 
gathering to take charge of the national convention, 
represented twenty-one States and Territories and the 
District of Columbia. The formation of this commit- 
tee with a view to perfecting the national organization 
was the main purpose of the gathering and the most 
important thing accomplished. 

A stirring address ^ to the country stating the prin- 
ciples and purposes of the Kepublican party, as re- 
ported by Mr. Mann of New York from the committee 
on address and resolutions, was also unanimously 
adopted and put forth by the convention. The repeal 
of all laws allowing the introduction of slavery into 
territory now^ free, the support of the citizens of Kan- 
sas in their resistance to the invading slave-holders, the 
immediate admission of Kansas to the Union as a free 
State, and the opposition to and overthrow of the na- 
tional administration which ^^has shown itself to be 
w^eak and faithless and * * * identified with the 
progress of the slave power to national supremacy,*' 
were declared to be the objects for which unity in 
political action were sought. 

The address to the country or platform also con- 
cluded with a sort of '^call" for a convention to select 



^ The document was written by Henry J. Raymond, Lieutenant- 
Governor of New York and is printed in full in Raymond & 
Maverick, New York Joiirnalism; also in part in Rhodes, History of 
the United States, II, 118-119, and in Hall, The Republican party, 
446 (1856). The paper is called "Address of the first Republican 
National Convention held at Pittsburg, Pa., February 22nd, 1856. 
Declarations of Principles and Purposes which we seek to promote." 
It consists of eleven closely printed pages and an original printed 
copy is to be found in the Mercantile Library of the City of New 
York. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 37 

presidential nominees whicli doubtless served as a 
model for the call wMch Avas issued March 29th, 1856.^ 

A motion that the proceedings be printed in pam- 
phlet form and circulated was approved. A vote of 
thanks to the officers of the convention and the citizens 
of Pittsburg was carried and the convention adjourned 
sine die. 

The national executive committee, appointed by the 
convention of February 22nd, met in Washington on 
March 27th 1856 and after a prolonged discussion 
issued the following call :^ 

To the People of the United States: 

The People of the United States without regard to past 
political differences or divisions, who are opposed to the re- 
peal of the Missouri Compromise, to the policy of the present 
Administration, to the extension of Slavery into the Terri- 
tories, in favor of the admission of Kansas as a free State 
and of restoring the action of the Federal Government, to 
the principles of Washington and Jefferson, are invited by 
the National Committee apijointed by the Pittsburg Conven- 
tion of the 22nd of February, 1856, to send from each State, 
three delegates from each congressional district, and six 
delegates at large, to meet in Philadelphia on the 17th of 
June next for the purpose of recommending candidates to 
be supported for the offices of President and Vice-President 
of the United States. 

E. D. Morgan, N. Y. Francis P. Blair, Md. 

A. P. Stone, Ohio. W. M. Chase, R. I. 

J. M. NiLES, Conn. David Wilmot, Penn. 

'B. F. Hall, The Republican Party, 446-460 (1856). 

^ So important was the wording of that call in view of the desire 
not to offend any one and draw in from the ranks of all parties that 
two days were spent in session at Willard's Hotel in preparing the 
call for the nominating convention. (OfHcial Proceedings of the first 



38 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY " 

J. Z. Goodrich, Mass. G-eoege Rye, Ya. 

A. R. Hallo well, Me. E. S. Leland, 111. 

Charles Dickie, Micli. A. J. Stevens, la. 

Lawrence Brainerd, Vt. Wyman Spooner, Wis. 

E. D. Williams, Del. James Redpath, Mo. 

G. G. Fogg, N. H. Cornelius Cole, Cal. 

W. Grose, Ind. C. M. K. Paulison, N. J. 

John G. Fee, Ky. Lewis Clephane, D. C. 

National Committee. 

Dated, Washington, March 29th, 1856. 

In issuing a formal call to the people of the United 
States, the "National Executive Committee" followed 
the instructions of the Pittsburg convention as to the 
number of delegates to be sent by each State and then 
assumed the prerogative, in the call, of fixing the date 
and place for the holding of the next national conven- 
tion of the party. This practice of issuing a call, speci- 
fying the date, place and composition of the succeed- 
ing national convention has been followed by the na- 
tional committee of the Republican party ever since. 

Pursuant to the call of the national executive com- 
mittee above set forth, the delegates elected to the first 
Republican national nominating convention ever held, 
assembled in Musical Fund Hall in the City of Phila- 
delphia, on Tuesday, June 17th, 1856, at 11 o'clock in 
the forenoon.^ Each State had a representation in the 
convention equal to three times its electoral vote. 

three Republican National Conventions, published in 1892, by order 
of the Republican National Convention of that year by Charles W. 
Johnson, its Secretar}^ page 14.) 

^A Golden Jubilee was held there 50 years later,- June 17th, 1906; 
300 veterans of the Fremont campaign were present. The proceed- 
ings were published at Philadelphia by Addison B. Burk in 1906. 
(See footnote to page 16, supra.) 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 39 

Five hundred and sixty-five delegates ^ were found to be 
present, — old Whigs, Wilmot-Proviso Democrats and 
Free-Soilers, — representing every free State and Dela- 
ware, Kentucky, Maryland and Virginia, the Territories 
of Minnesota, (Nebraska) ^ and Kansas and the District 
of Columbia. As many delegates as wished to repre- 
sent any State were appointed, but the vote of each 
State was restricted as specified in the call.^ The 
party, then in its infancy, "was glad to take anyone 
who could go.'' * 

State conventions composed of delegates selected 
by party voters afforded the model for a national con- 
vention. As early as 1831, in Baltimore, the Anti- 
Masonic convention brought together 112 delegates 
from a large number of States in the Union ; and in De- 
cember of that year the Whig party, at its convention 
at the City of Baltimore, boasted of 156 delegates, rep- 
resenting 18 States and the District of Columbia.^ The 
delegates to these early conventions were chosen in a 
variety of ways and it was many years before each 

^ Curtis, 'The Republican Party, I, page 255. 

^ Though it has sometimes been said that the Territory of Nebraska 
was represented yet the records of the convention contain no mention 
of the delegates from that State as voting or participating in the 
convention. 

^ The Territory of Kansas, not having any electoral vote, was given 
9 votes in the convention. Thus at this early stage the Republican 
party showed its liberal policy toward Territories, which has been 
continued to the present time. 

* Statement of the late Mr. Cephas Brainerd to the writer. 

^ Journal of the National Republican Convention which assembled 
at the City of Baltimore, December loth, 1831, for the nomination 
of Candidates to fill the offices of President and Vice-President. 



40 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY '' 

party was so completely organized down to the election 
district or precinct as to secure regularity in the choice 
of delegates. "In the earlier period, it seems, the dele- 
gates to the national convention were sometimes chosen 
by State conventions, sometimes by legislative caucuses 
and district conventions and sometimes b^^ local mass 
meetings of the voters. Even as late as 1864 some of 
the delegates to the Republican or Union national con- 
vention were selected by legislative causes." ^ 

In May, 1838, the Whig State convention • in Ohio, 
after a warm discussion, decided by a large majority 
that each congressional district should have the right 
to choose its delegates to the national convention, the 
two delegates-at-large being chosen as before by the 
State convention, "as being most democratic and best 
calculated to bring out the real sentiment of the 
people." ^ This method of choosing delegates which is 
by far the fairest, has from that time to this steadily 
gained in favor, until it is to-day the more popular 
method throughout the country. The Eepublican party, 
as w^ shall see, by a rule adopted at the national con- 
vention of 1884, compelled every State to choose its 
delegates in that manner. In the Democratic party 
however in some of the States all the delegates are 
still chosen by the State convention. 

The early conventions of the Republican party. State 
and national, were to a large extent mass meetings 
rather than representative bodies. This was especially 

^ C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, 132. 

^ F. W. Dallinger, Nominations for Elective OMce, 43 and Niles* 
Register, LVI, 259 (cited by Dallinger). 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 41 

true of the Pittsburg convention of 1856 and also, as 
we shall see, of the Philadelphia convention.^ 

Xo uniform rule was adopted in electing delegates 
to the latter convention of 1856, nor were they chosen 
by means of complicated party machinery. ^ The method 
of selection was left entirely to the states, which se- 
lected any one of the various methods above enumer- 
ated. In some cases even the so-called delegates volun- 
teered their services and the appointment was ratified 
by a State convention afterwards. Most of the mem- 
bers had no form of credentials. Xo rule had been 
provided in the call securing uniformity as to the num- 
ber of votes to which each State should be entitled. 
Only the number of delegates for each had been deter- 
mined upon. In this respect, the early Republican con- 
ventions contrasted greatly with the later regularly 
constituted representative bodies, composed exclusively 
of delegates each of whom has been duly chosen accord- 
ing to recognized party methods in his own State and 
has been furnished with the proper credentials. 

Xo reference was made in the call to the sending 
of delegates by the Territories and the District of 
Columbia, but in spite of that fact the Territories of 
Minnesota, (Xebraska)^ and Kansas and the District 
of Columbia sent delegates who were admitted. 

Credentials were not scrutinized and apparently 
every delegate who applied was admitted without ques- 
tion, so that there was the greatest discrepancy in 

^ So also was the seceding Republican convention which met at 
Cincinnati in 1872 and nominated Greeley. Bryce, American Com- 
monwealth, II, 145. 

^Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 182, 

' See Note 2 to page 39. 



42 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ' 

representation/ — New York, for example, having 96 
delegates, Pennsylvania 81 and Ohio 69. Many of the 
more remote States were unrepresented and altogether 
there were only 565 delegates present. As a result of this 
inequality, the convention was forced to adopt a rule 
fixing the number of votes to which each State was en- 
titled.2 

Alexander K. McClure was a Pennsylvania delegate 
to the Philadelphia convention. ^ He refers to this as- 
sembly as a mass convention, similar to a State con- 
vention, held at Pittsburg, which he had attended the 
year previously. He says it was composed of a loose 
aggregation of political free-thinkers as the party had 
no organization and the States sent large or small dele- 
gations, as was most convenient. Mr. McClure was so 
much dissatisfied with the radical Kepublican attitude 
adopted by the convention, that, though he attended its 
first session, he did not enroll as a delegate and did 
not participate after the first session. 

The Philadelphia convention was called to order by 
Hon. Edwin D. Morgan of New York, chairman of the 
Eepublican national committee,^ setting a precedent 
which has been followed in the succeeding Eepublican 
national conventions. On behalf of the national com- 
mittee, he nominated Hon. Robert Emmet of New York 
for temporary president of the convention and the 
question being taken on the nomination it was re- 

^A. K. McClure, Our Presidents and How We Make Them, 158. 

^ See infra, page 46. 

^ A. K. McClure, Our Presidents and How We Make Them, 136, 137- 

* The national executive committee, appointed by the Pittsburg 
convention called itself merely the national committee. See opening 
address of Mr. Morgan quoted in part at page 205 infra. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 43 

sponded to by a unanimous "aye," and Mr. Emmet was 
conducted to the chair by two delegates appointed by 
Mr. Morgan. Mr. George G. Fogg of New Hampshire 
and Mr. Thomas G. Mitchell of Ohio were, on motion, 
appointed temporary secretaries of the convention,^ 
Thus began the practice, now well settled in the Re- 
publican party conventions, of having the national 
committee name the temporary chairman as well as 
other temporary officers, who, unless there be opposi- 
tion in the convention, become without question the 
temporary officers of the convention. ^ 

The first problem coming before a national conven- 
tion is the appointment of committees on credentials, 
rules, platform, and permanent organization. In the 
matter of credentials and rules, the resolution of Mr. 
A. P. Stone of Ohio (vesting the two functions in one 
committee) was carried as follows: 

Resolved: That a committee, consisting of one delegate 
from each State and Territory represented in this Conven- 
tion be selected by the delegates thereof who shall act as 
a Committee on Credentials, Rules and Appointments and 
report the number, names [sic] and post-office address of 
each delegate together with rules for the government of the 
Convention.^ 

^ The details of the proceedings of the convention are found in 

Proceedings of the first Three Republican National Conventions as 

compiled b}- Charles W. Johnson, Secretar}^ of the convention of 
1892 (Minneapolis, Minn.). 

^ This right was first questioned in the convention of 1884, see 
infra, p. 120. 

^ This practice of a joint committee for credentials as well as rules 
has not been adhered to since that time in Republican national con- 
ventions, thereafter a separate committee was appointed for each. 



44 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ■• 

In the matter of the preparation of a platform, the 
convention carried a resolution, offered by David Wil- 
mot of Pennsylvania and amended by B. B. French of 
the District of Columbia, as follows : 

Resolved : That a committee of one from each State and 
Territory represented be appointed to prepare and report for 
the action of the Convention, a platform of principles to be 
submitted to the people of the United States ; that the mem- 
ber from each State and Territory represented be named by 
the delegates thereof; and that all resolutions or papers 
offered in the Convention in relation to such platform be 
referred to the committee thus appointed without debate.^ 

Resolved: That the said committee be requested to re- 
port at the earliest practicable moment and that no ballot be 
taken for President or Vice-President until after the plat- 
form is reported and adopted by the Convention. - 

In the matter of a permanent organization the 
resolution of Mr. F. D. Kimball of Ohio was carried: 

Resolved: That a committee of one from each State 
and Territory represented be selected by the several delega- 
tions to report officers to this Convention for its permanent 
organization.^ 



^This practice has been adhered to in Republican national con- 
ventions. 

^ This is now and has been ever since a part of the rules of every 
Republican national convention reported to each convention by its 
committee on rules and order of business. 

^This practice has been adhered to in Republican national con- 
ventions. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 45 

A custom, which has prevailed in all Kepublican 
national conventions since the first one, was then sanc- 
tioned in the resolution offered by the same Ohio dele- 
gate, which was carried as follows: 

Resolved :. That the daily meetings of this Convention be 
opened with prayer, and that the officers of the Convention 
make the necessary arrangements to that effect by invitations 
to the clergymen of the city.^ 

The committee on permanent organization, which 
had been selected pursuant to the resolution quoted 
above, reported the following list of ofiicers for the con- 
vention : president. Col. Henry S. Lane of Indiana, and 
a vice-president and secretary from each State and 
Territory represented. 

The problem of selecting a national committee to 
call the convention of four j^ears hence was met by 
the resolution of Mr. Kimball of Ohio, and was car- 
ried during the first day's proceedings as follows (but 
later reconsidered^) : 

Resolved : That a committee of one from each State 
and Territory represented in this Convention be appointed 
by the several delegations respectively to report the name 
of one person from each State and Territory to constitute 
the Republican National Committee for the ensuing four 
years, — such committee, when appointed, to elect their own 
chairman. 2 

^ This has become a fixed custom in all succeeding national con- 
ventions without the adoption of a specific resolution, 

^ See infra, page 47. 

^ This practice has been adhered to ever since. 



46 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY., 

Owing to the fact noted above, that several States 
sent more than the quota of delegates to which the call 
entitled them, it became necessary for the convention 
to decide upon a plan of fixing the number of votes 
which each State should be authorised to cast in the 
convention and the method of giving such vote. To 
meet this question the Hon. Elbridge G. Spaulding 
from the committee on credentials and on rules for the 
government of the convention presented the following 
report, in part, which was adopted: 

Resolved: That in voting for a candidate for President, 
the States be called in their order and that the chairman of 
each delegation present the number of votes given to each 
candidate for President by the delegates from his State, 
each State being limited in its votes to three times the num- 
ber of electors to which such State is entitled: Provided 
that no State shall give a larger vote than the number of 
delegates actually present in the Convention;^ 

And provided: That Kansas shall be considered for this 
purpose as a State with the same electoral vote as any other 
State entitled to only one representative in Congress. 

Resolved : That the same rule shall apply to the nomina- 
tion of Vice-President. 

They then considered the subject of the general 
rules of procedure and passed the following resolution, 
reported by the committee on rules: 

Resolved: That the rules of the House of Representa- 



^This with modifications and changes has been embodied in the 
rules of each succeeding national convention reported to it by its 
committee on rules and order of business. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 47 

tives be adopted so far as they are applicable to this Con- 
vention.^ 

In forming the national committee, the convention 
at the beginning of the second day's proceedings, 
reconsidered the resolntion, adopted the previous day, 
and carried the resolution of Mr. Eoland G. Hazard of 
Khode Island, thus setting a precedent, as to the 
method of selecting the national party committee, 
which has been followed dow^n to the present day by 
the Eepublican party : 

Resolved : That the resolution adopted yesterday pro- 
viding for the appointment of a committee to report to the 
Convention the names of the Republican National Committee 
for the next four years be, and the same hereby is recon- 
sidered and that the said resolution be amended so as to 
read as follows : — 

Resolved: That the several State and Territorial Dele- 
gations, through their chairmen report to the Convention 
the name of one citizen from their respective States and 
Territories to be a member of the Republican National Com- 
mittee for the next four years and that the gentlemen so ap- 
pointed constitute such Republican National Committee and 
that they elect the chairman of the Committee.^ 

The roll of members of the convention with their 
post-office addresses was read and each State was given 
the right to designate a member for the Republican na- 
tional committee for the next four years. The list of 

^ This practice has been adhered to ever since in Republican na- 
tional conventions with one exception, 1884. 

^ This practice has been followed in Republican national conventions, 
but see infra, Chapter IV. 



48 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

names of the committee was then read to the conven- 
tion. 

The Hon. David Wilmot, chairman of the com- 
mittee appointed the day before to prepare and report 
for the action of the convention a platform of prin- 
ciples to be submitted to the people of the United 
States, reported a preamble and series of resolutions to 
constitute such platform.^ 

Its leading points ^ were the denial of the authority 
of Congress, of a territorial legislature, of any indi- 
vidual or association of individuals to give legal exist- 
ence to slavery in any Territory of the United States 
and the assertion of the "right and duty of Congress to 
prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barba- 
rism, — polygamy and slavery. '' The immediate admis- 
sion of Kansas as a free State was demanded; ap- 
propriations by Congress for internal improvements ^ 
were recommended, and the restoration of the action of 

'B. R Hall, The Republican Party, 462 (1856). The full text of 
the platform may be found in Charles W. Johnson's Proceedings 
of the First Three Republican National Conventions published by or- 
der of the convention of 1892 through Mr. Johnson, who was the 
secretary of that convention, and also in Curtis, The Republican 
Party, I, 257. See also, the contemporary campaign text book, en- 
titled "A Republican Edition for the Million" (1856), the first 
Republican national campaign text book ever issued, a photographic 
reprint of the title page of which forms the frontispiece of this 
volume. See also Stanwood's History of Presidential Elections, 205. 

^ The platform of 1856 bears a striking resemblance to the Declara- 
tion of the Anti-Slavery convention assembled in Philadelphia, De- 
cember, 1833. An original printed copy of that declaration is on 
file in the Archives of the Nantucket Historical Society and has 
been reprinted in A. B. Burk, Golden Jubilee of the Republican 
Party (1906). 

^ Due to the Whig element in the party ; see infra, page 164. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 49 

the Federal government to the principles of Washing- 
ton and Jefferson was urged. 

A committee of three was appointed by the chair 
in accordance with the report of the committee on 
resolutions "to address all parties of the country, with 
a view to elucidate the principles of action, and to 
conciliate them to the great object to which the labors 
of the convention had been devoted." 

A motion to proceed to the nomination of President 
was debated for some time, and during the discussion 
it was brought out that the New York delegates were 
unanimously for the nomination of William H. Seward, 
but that he had requested the withdrawal of his name; 
in a letter Judge McLean declined the use of his name 
as a candidate, but at the request of Pennsylvania, 
New Jersey and Ohio, it was placed before the conven- 
tion ^ ; and a letter was presented from Salmon P. 
Chase containing the request that his name be with- 
held from the convention.^ The president then de- 
clared that the business of the convention w^as to 
proceed to the nomination of a Republican candidate 
for President of the United States and that, pursuant 
to the resolution of Mr. John E. Seeley of New York 
adopted at the morning session, the convention should 
proceed to "take an informal ballot for a candidate for 
President of the United States." This taking of an 
informal ballot served merely as a means of making 
nominations since the names of no candidate had been 

^ Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 184. Also New York 
Evening Post, New York Times and New York Tribune, June 19th, 
1856. Bigelow's Life of Fremont. 

'Ibid. 



50 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

formally presented to the convention. The practice 
was never again followed in Kepnblican conventions. 

Two tellers were appointed by the chair and the 
vote was then taken in accordance with the recommen- 
dation of the committee on rnles, which had been 
passed the previous day. The States were called in 
geographical order/ and the chairman of each delega- 
tion presented the number of votes given to each candi- 
date for President by the delegates from his State. The 
sum of the votes was announced by the tellers amid 
cheers, as follows: on the first ballot for a candidate 
for President, for John C. Fremont of California, 359 
votes; for John McLean of Ohio, 190 votes; for Na- 
thaniel P. Banks of Massachusetts, 1 vote; for Charles 
Sumner of Massachusetts, 2 votes; and for William H. 
Seward of New York, 1 vote. 

The motion of General J. W. Webb of New York 
was then adopted that this convention do immediately 
proceed to "take a formal vote for a Republican can- 
didate for President of the United States." On the 
formal ballot taken in the same manner as the informal 
one, Fremont received all but 38 votes. 

General Webb then offered a resolution that John 
C. Fremont of California be unanimously nominated 
by this convention by acclamation as the Republican 
candidate for President of the United States. 

The resolution of General James W. Webb, that 

^This differed from the method adopted in later Republican con- 
ventions of calling the States in alphabetical order (see infra, page 
171) but followed the practice of the National Republican or Whig 
party in 1831. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 51 

Fremont's nomination be made unanimous/ created a 
precedent which has been followed without exception 
in the Eepublican national conventions from that day 
with respect to the nominations for President of the 
United States. 

That resolution was adopted and the convention 
then immediately proceeded to ^'take an informal vote 
for a candidate for Vice-President of the United States 
to be supported by the Republican party at the ensuing- 
election." 2 

A similar method of voting to that employed in the 
balloting for President was used in the informal and 
formal ballot for candidate for Vice-President. 

William L. Dayton of New Jersey received 259 
votes; Abraham Lincoln of Illinois 110; Nathaniel P 
Banks of Massachusetts 46; David Wilmot of Penn- 
sylvania 43; Charles Sumner of Massachusetts 35, 
and 53 were scattering, and on the formal ballot Day- 
ton was unanimously nominated. D'ay ton's nomination 
was the Whig share of the result. 

A resolution was then offered and passed that a 
"National Convention of young men in favor of Free 
Speech, Free Soil and Free Kansas, and of Fremont for 
President of the United States be held in the month 
of September, 1856, in the City of Harrisburg, in the 
State of Pennsylvania, under the call of the Republican 
National Committee." 

Judge Hoar of Massachusetts called up the resolu- 
tion to hold the next national convention at Cleveland, 

■ ^This followed the familiar practice of the National Republican 
and Whig conventions. 

^ See infra, page 174 



52 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY -. 

which had been previously made and tabled, and moved 
its reference to the Eepublican national committee. He 
thought that the committee should name the place. 

After this problem had been discussed at length/ 
the convention voted to leave the question to be deter- 
mined by the national committee. This was the origin 
of a precedent which has been followed by the Repub- 
lican party ever since that day, with interesting re- 
sults.^ In course of time, the entire business prelimi- 
nary to the convention came to be entrusted to the Re- 
publican national committee, which is discussed in a 
subsequent chapter. 

The chairman of the convention appointed a com- 
mittee of nine delegates with himself as the tenth to 
notify the nominees of the action of the convention.^ 

A resolution of thanks by the convention to its vice- 
presidents and secretaries for their ability and fidelity 
in the discharge of their duties was then carried as was 
also a resolution of thanks to the citizens of Phila- 
delphia for their kindness and hospitality shown to the 
delegates during the session of the convention. This 
practice has likewise been followed, from that day as 
the concluding ceremony of the great national party 
conclave. 

^The reason advanced by Judge Hoar was that "if successful in the 
coming election they might hold their next Convention in Kentucky 
or Virginia." Massachusetts desired to advance the column to the 
South, holding their party to be a national party; therefore a decision 
at present was inadvisable (OMcial Proceedings of the Convention 
of 1856, p. 81). 

^See infra, Chapter IV. 

'Leslie's History of the Republican Party, I, p. yy (G. O. Seil- 
haimer). 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 53 

The convention, on resolution, then adjourned sine 
die. 

Although the first national convention of the Re- 
publican party ordered its minutes to be published in 
pamphlet form, yet from some cause or other it was 
not done and the newspapers of that time contain a 
very meagre account of its proceedings. 

On the 19th of June, the day following the date of 
the nominations, Colonel Lane, the president of the 
convention and the committee associated with him for 
the purpose, addressed letters to the nominees re- 
spectively informing them of their unanimous nomi- 
nations and requesting them in behalf of the conven- 
tion to accept the same. In response they received 
letters of acceptance from the candidates.^ 

This practice of notifying the candidates has ob- 
tained without exception down to the present day, 
although in subsequent years, in addition to a formal 
letter directed to the nominee and delivered by the 
committee, an elaborate address has been made to the 
candidate at his home by the chairman or some par- 
ticularly representative man on the committee. More- 
over, the letters of acceptance, which in the early days 
of the party were short and merely thanked the con- 
vention for the honor conferred, became in subsequent 
years, in many instances, rather lengthy documents and 
formed, in a way, second platforms. ^ 

At a meeting of the national Republican committee 
at the Girard Hotel, after the termination of the con- 

^ These are published in the Republican Scrap Book (Boston, 1856), 
and in B. F. Hall, The Republican party, 465-471 (1856). 

' For a fuller discussion see infra, page 186. 



54 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY '' 

vention, Edwin D. Morgan was chosen chairman and 
N. B. Judd, secretary. Apparently no treasurer was 
chosen. 

It has become an established custom in the party 
that the national committee should meet shortly after 
the conclusion of the convention and organize by the 
choice of a chairman and secretary. In later years, as 
we shall see, it also elected at or about that time a 
treasurer and other officers, together with an executive 
committee. 

In the election of 1856 the Democratic candidates 
were successful ; the votes stood : 





Popular Vote. 


Electoral Vote. 


James Buchanan 


1,838,169 


174 


John C. Fremont, 


1,341,264 


114 


Millard Fillmore 


874,534 


8 (Md.) 



It was a show of strength,^ most gratifying to the 
Eepublicans and was beyond measure startling. They 
carried every Northern State but Pennsylvania, New 
Jersey, Indiana and Illinois, and "gained portentous 
strength" even in those States. Their defeat was such 
a narrow one that the votes of Illinois and Pennsyl- 
vania would have made Fremont President. It is note- 
worthy that in 1860, provision was made for both these 
latter States, for the former, by Lincoln's nomination, 
and for the latter, by the protective tariff clause in the 
platform. In the West, the Republicans were practi- 
cally the only party which disputed supremacy with 

^In New York State Fremont received 276,007 votes (Rhodes, His- 
tory of the United States, II, 185.) 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 55 

the Democrats, and thereafter they were to be the only 
powerful party standing face to face with the Demo- 
crats in the East. The Know-Nothings and Whigs 
vanished from the field of national politics. Parties 
were to be thenceforth compact and sectional. "We 
have lost a battle," was the comment of the Xew York 
Trihune^ on the day after the election, "the Bunker 
Hill of the new struggle for freedom is past; the 
Saratoga and Yorktown are yet to be achieved,'' and 
Whittier expressed the general feeling in the words, 
"If months have well-nigh won the field, what may 
not four years do?" 

In order to realize their ideals it was of course 
necessary for the Republicans to secure both Houses 
of Congress and the Presidency. This was rendered 
possible by the Democratic disruption, the presence of 
four tickets in the field, and the nomination of Abraham 
Lincoln in 1860. 

In the meantime, the United States Supreme Court 
rendered the decision in the case of Dred Scott. This 
marked the last attempt to decide the contest between 
slavery extension and slavery restriction by forms of 
law, and from this time, the course of events tended 
with increasing rapidity to a settlement by force. The 
first compromise (in 1820) had prohibited slavery in 
part of the Territories, leaving the question open as to 
the remainder. The next Compromise Measures (in 
1850), as interpreted in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 
1854, had opened all the Territories to slavery, if estab- 
lished by popular sovereignty. But the Dred Scott de- 
cision in its logical consequences, opened all the Terri- 
tories and possibly the Free States to at least a tempo- 



56 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

rary establishment of slavery, wherever a slave owner 
might see fit to carry his slave. It was plain that this 
would never be accepted as law by the Free States. The 
results of the decision therefore, were to show the 
failure of the Supreme Court as an arbiter and to call 
the attention of the North to the wholly impossible de- 
mands of the slave power. 

A meeting of the Eepublican members of Congress 
at Washington on the 7th of December, 1857, unani- 
mously adopted the following resolution : 

Kesolved: That we, the Republican members of the 
House, deem this a proper occasion to reaffirm our adherence 
to the principles announced by the Republican National Con- 
vention, held at Philadelphia, in June, 1856, and we will 
continue our opposition to any administra^tion that does not 
practically enforce those doctrines; that we will resist by 
all constitutional means the recent attempt of the Judicial 
and Executive Departments of the Government to national- 
ize the sectional institution of slavery; that we regard the 
acts in Kansas of the present and the last National admin- 
istrations as a continued series of frauds and outrages now 
attempted to be culminated by forcing upon the people of 
that territory a state constitution, framed by persons not 
elected by them, one which was not submitted to them and 
is known to be offensive to a great majority of them and 
made in direct violation even of their own repeated and 
solemn pledges that the people should be permitted to form 
and regulate their own institutions, in their own way. We 
will resist such outrages upon popular rights and in doing 
so invoke the support of the people of the United States 
without distinction of party. 

In the summer and fall of 1857 the prospects of the 
Republican party did not seem bright; there was a 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 57 

natural reaction from the high enthusiasm which had 
characterized the campaign of the preceding year. In 
the Northwest, the outlook for the new party was 
especially gloomy. The result of the fall elections all 
over the North was discouraging. A large falling off of 
the Republican vote was noted nearly everywhere, due 
to apathy and the fact that the financial stringency 
engrossed public attention. The congressional elections 
of that year were so unfavorable that there were but 
92 Republicans out of 237 members in the Congress of 
1857-59. 

But in 1858 the outlook was far more promising. 
New England was a solid phalanx under the Repub- 
lican banner. Northwestern States like Ohio, Iowa, 
Indiana and Michigan were winning over the doubters 
in the Democratic party, and in New York, against a 
desperate fusion of anti-Republicans, the Republicans 
elected Edwin D. Morgan for Governor, by a plurality 
of over 17,000. 

Pennsylvania ^ elected an anti-administration ticket 
of State officers by more than 20,000 majority, and 
'^resolutely turned its back upon the South, whose 
faithful handmaid it had been for full three-score 
years." 

The contest in Illinois was extremely bitter, and 
of singular interest, and later events made it his- 
torical. Here Stephen A. Douglas canvassed for re- 
election to the United States Senate and had been 
nominated by the Democrats. Against him the Re- 
publican State convention meeting at Springfield, on 

^ Buchanan's own State. 



58 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY - 

June 16, 1858, put Abraham Lincoln in nomination for 
senatorial succession.^ 

The Eepublicans did not obtain a majority in the 
Illinois legislature, but Douglas went back to the Sen- 
ate weakened in prestige and with loss of authority. 

The elections of the Autumn, taking the country as a 
whole, were most favorable to the Eepublicans. Morgan 
as we have seen was elected in New York by a large 
majority; a Kepublican legislature was chosen and all 
the members of Congress elected, except four, were Ee- 
publicans or anti-Lecompton men.^ Among them were 
Reuben E. Fenton, Eoscoe Conkling and Francis E. 
Spinner. At this election Pennsylvania, New Jersey 
and Minnesota for the first time gave Eepublican ma- 
jorities. Every New England State elected a Eepub- 
lican governor, as well as Ohio, Pennsylvania and 
Iowa; Michigan and Wisconsin increased their Eepub- 
lican vote; the Indiana Eepublicans elected a majority 
of the congressional delegation from that State and 
the Eepublicans were generally successful throughout 
the North. 

If we except Illinois, where, as we have seen, a 
Douglas legislature was elected, although the State 
gave a Eepublican majority on the popular vote, only 
California, of the free States, voted in favor of the 
administration, and Oregon, which had not as yet 
been admitted, voted as California did. On May 11 

^Lincoln addressed the delegates at this convention in the most 
carefully prepared speech he had ever made, dwelling on his favorite 
doctrine that a house divided against itself cannot stand. 

^/. e. Men opposed to Buchanan's scheme of forcing a slavery 
constitution on Kansas. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 59 

of that year, Minnesota had been admitted to the Union 
as a State with a constitution that forbade slavery 
and she at once joined the Republican column. 

In the Spring of 1859, sharp debates and discus- 
sions were the order of the day in the Senate. The 
Democratic party was seen to be steadily dividing into 
two camps, and the convention of 1860 Avas looked 
forward to by the Democrats with no little foreboding. 
The Republican party on the contrary seemed to be 
more firmly cemented than ever and to be daily gaining 
strength, particularly in the Middle West.^ 

The Thirty-sixth Congress met in AYashington, De- 
cember 5, 1859. The Republican minority in the Senate 
now numbered 21 or 25, while in the House of Repre- 
sentatives the Republicans totalled 113, Administration 
Democrats 93, anti-Lecompton Democrats 8, "South 
Americans'' ^ 23. It will be seen that the anti-Slavery 
majority was five, though the Republican party as such 
had only a plurality. 

Thus, during the four years which followed its first 
national convention, the Republican party steadily ad- 
vanced. It found its most effective support among the 
Northern farmers who believed that slavery should be 
excluded from the great Western Territory in order 
that homesteads might be erected there by free men^; 

^ The Oberlin affair, where a professor of the college and several 
students, besides other respectable citizens, were sent to jail and 
fined, because of the part taken in the rescue of a runaway slave, 
only served to intensify the anti-slavery extension feeling at the 
North, not only because of the Fugitive Slave Law, but of the sys- 
tem which made it possible. 

^ Southern members of the American or Know-Nothing party. 

^ C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, 115. 



6o FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

and indeed it has been called ^The Homestead Party'' 
by an eminent publicist.^ To the homestead element 
was added the manufacturing interest of the East 
which was clamoring for more protection against 
European competition. ^ "The alliance of these two 
great forces made a formidable party, — not an aboli- 
tionist party, but a homestead and protective tariff 
party standing for the exclusion of slavery from the 
territories." ^ 

In recognition of the growing power and importance 
of the great West, the Republican national convention 
was called to meet in Chicago, on the 16th day of 
May, 1860. The former presidential canvass, though 
resulting in the defeat of Fremont, had nevertheless 
shown the remarkable popular strength of the Eepub- 
lican party in the country at large; since then its 
double victory in Congress against the Lecompton con- 
stitution and at the congressional elections over the 
representatives who supported this constitution, gave 
it confidence and aggressive activity. But the party 
now received new inspiration and impetus from the 
Charleston disruption on April 30th, 1860. Former 
possibility was suddenly changed to strong probability 
of success in the ensuing presidential election. 

The Republican national convention met on May 
16, 17 and 18, 1860, at Chicago, Illinois, in a wigwam * 
built for the occasion which it was said would ac- 

"^J. R. Commons, vol. XXIV, p. 468, Political Science Quarterly, 
Sept., 1909, Horace Greeley and the Republican Party. 
^ See Republican Platform of i860. 
^ C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, 116. 
*The building called a wigwam was a temporary frame structure 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 61 

commodate 10,000 people. All the free States and six 
slave States, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, 
Missouri and Texas, the Territories of Kansas and Ne- 
braska and the District of Columbia were represented 
in all by 466 delegates.^ 

The contrast between this gathering and the na- 
tional convention of 1856 is worthy of remark. Then a 
hall accommodating 2000 was quite sufficient, now the 
wigwam holding &Ye times that number ''was jammed 
and twenty thousand people outside clamored for ad- 
mittance;^ then the wire-pullers looked askance at a 

but admirably fitted for the occasion. Its acoustic qualities were 
perfect and every part of it could be seen from every other part. 
The name is still applied in Western cities by RepubUcans to build- 
ings used for party purposes. 

A good contemporary account of the convention of i860 is given 
by Murat Halstead, who was present as correspondent for the Cin- 
cinnati Commercial. Referring to the wigwam, he says, 'The City 
of Chicago is attending to this convention in magnificent style. It 
is a great place for great hotels and all have their capacity for ac- 
commodation tested. The great feature is the wigwam, erected in 
the past month, expressly for the use of the convention by the re- 
publicans of Chicago at the cost of $7,000. It is a small edition of 
the New York Crystal Palace built of boards and will hold ten 
thousand persons comfortably, and is admirable for its accoustic 
excellence. An ordinary voice can be heard through the whole struc- 
ture with ease. * * * Vast as the wigwam is, not one-fifth of 
those who would be glad to get inside can be accommodated." (Na- 
tional Political Conventions of i860, p. 121.) Only delegates and 
gentlemen visitors accompanied by ladies had seats. Spectators un- 
accompanied by ladies who had tickets of admission had to stand. 
In all Republican national conventions since, seats have been fur- 
nished for spectators. 

^Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 456. 

' It may safely be said that no other country provides in its party 
life for any gatherings comparable in size, interest and representative 
character, with our quadrennial national conventions. 



62 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ■ 

movement whose success was problematical, now tliey 
hastened to identify themselves with a party that ap- 
parently had the game in its own hand."^ And ^^office- 
seekers, who, since 1858, had formed a noticeable part 
of the Kepublican organization,^ were now present in 
numbers, for the purpose of making prominent their 
devotion to the party and its principles." In 1856, the 
delegates were "liberty-loving enthusiasts and largely 
volunteers," now the delegates were ''chosen by means 
of the organization peculiar to a powerful .party and, 
in political wisdom, were the pick of the Eepublicans." 
While the first Republican national convention pre- 
sented a sort of extemporized gathering, the greater 
part of whose members had no form of credentials, the 
convention of 1860 was largely composed of regular 
delegations from the several States. At that time the 
contest in which they were about to engage seemed but 
"a tentative effort and the leading men would not ac- 
cept the nomination, while now, triumph appeared so 
certain, that, everyone of the master spirits was eager 
to be the candidate." The most potent cause of this 
change, beside the continued growth of anti-slavery 
extension sentiment, was the split in the D'emocratic 
party, "which began with the refusal of Douglas to 
submit to Southern dictation."^ 

No convention had ever before attracted such a 
crowd of on-lookers. "By the second day of the conven- 
tion, thirty or forty thousand strangers, mostly from 

^ Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 457- 

'See Lincoln-Douglas Debates, page 230, cited in Rhodes, II, 457; 
also Lincoln-Douglas Debates, page 261 (Published by O. S. Hubbell 
& Co., Cleveland, Ohio, 1895). 

' Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 457- 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1836 AND i860 63 

the Northwest, had flocked to the city eager to be as- 
sociated with the great historic event that was promised 
and thinking perhaps to affect the resnlt by their 
presence and shouts/' ^ ''Never before had there been 
such systematic efforts to create an opinion that the 
people demanded this or that candidate. Organized 
bodies of men were sent out day and night to make 
street demonstrations for their favorite or Avere col- 
lected to pack the audience room in the Convention 
Hall so that cheers might greet each mention of his 
name. These procedures were very different from those 
of similar Whig gatherings heretofore/' — the usually 
accepted Eepublican model, — which had been "marked 
by respectability and decorum." ^ 

The writer was so fortunate as to be able to supple- 
ment the meagre historical accounts, at his disposal, 
with reference to the election of delegates to this con- 
vention, by a personal interview with General Stewart 
L. Woodford. General Woodford was an alternate to 
the Lincoln convention of 1860 from Fairfield County, 
Connecticut. The writer expressed his surprise at this, 
knowing that General Woodford was at that time a 
citizen of the State of New York and a resident of 
the City of New York. He was then informed that 
custom, in those early days, did not require the dele- 
gate to be a citizen of the State which he represented 
at the convention, nor did he have to be a resident of 
the district which sent him, as is usually the case at 
tiie present time. 

^ Nicolay and Hay, II, Life of Lincoln, 264; Halstead, National 
Political Conventions, 140. Rhodes, History of the United States, 
II, 456. 

-Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 458. 



64 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ^ 

The reason delegates were not required to be citi- 
zens of the State they represented in the early conven- 
tions was because the party was then in its infancy and 
there was no pay attached to the position, and on the 
other hand it involved considerable expense to the 
individual, so that a State organization was often only 
too glad to have anyone of prominence from any part 
of the United States volunteer to represent it in the 
convention. Accordingly, Connecticut, in recognition 
of certain political speeches which General Woodford 
had made during the previous campaign, nominated 
him as an alternate to the convention of 1860. Gen- 
eral Woodford did not recall ^ the details as to the 
method by which he had been elected in Connecticut. 
He remembered that a State convention had been held 
and that the delegates there elected were authorized to 
appoint alternates and this was how he was chosen. 
His appointment bore the signature of A. Homer Bying- 
ton,2 editor of the Norwalk Gazette, of Norwalk, Con- 

^General Woodford was likewise a regular delegate from the 
State of New York to the Republican convention of 1872 which 
nominated Grant for the second time. To the best of the General's 
recollection, the method of his election was as follows: A State 
convention was called, which elected the four delegates-at-large from 
New York and then the delegates to that convention got together 
and reported delegates from each district to the convention and then 
the convention ratified these men. This is exactly the method pur- 
sued by the Democratic party to-day for the election of delegates 
to the national convention. 

^'At the suggestion of General Woodford, I wrote a letter to Mr. 
Byington, who was a delegate to several of the early conventions. 
That gentleman's ill-health prevented his replying, but his nephew 
stated that Mr. Byington had spoken to him about my letter; that he 
could not recall any details as to the method of his election as a 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 65 

necticut. Horace Greeley, who had broken with Seward 
and Weed in New York and could not possibly be 
elected from that State and who was "bound to go 
some how/' went as a delegate-at-large to the conven- 
tion from Oregon.^ 

At 12.10 P. M., Wednesday, May 16th, 1860, the 
delegates having assembled pursuant to the call set 
forth below, the convention was called to order by the 
Hon. Edwin D. Morgan of New York, chairman of the 
national committee, following the practice of the con- 
vention of 1856. 

The opening address was made by Mr. Morgan, who 
nominated for temporary president David Wilmot of 
Pennsylvania (the author of the Wilmot Proviso) and 
he was duly chosen. 

In calling the convention to order Mr. Morgan said 
in part: 

On the 22nd of December last the Republican National 
Committee, at a meeting convened for the purpose in the 

delegate to the early conventions, but that he remembered attending 
the Chicago convention and that he spent $200 there which was con- 
sidered a fabulous extravagance in those days. 

^Horace Greeley sat at the head of the Oregon delegation. That 
new State just admitted into the Union was so far from civilization 
at this time when the iron horse had not yet been heard in either 
the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada, that the Republican convention 
selected a number of prominent members in the East including 
Greeley to represent the State." A. K. McClure, Our Presidents 
and How We Make Them, 158. 

"The fact that Greeley represented Oregon was considered a re- 
markable thing and was much talked about." (The late Mr. Cephas 
Brainerd in an interview with the writer.) 



66 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ■ 

City of New York, issued a calP for a National Convention, 
which P will now read: 

A National Republican Convention will meet at Chicago 
on Wednesday, the 16th day of May next, at 12 o'clock noon, 
for the nomination of candidates to be supported for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President at the next election. 

The Republican electors of the several states, the mem- 
bers of the People's Party of Pennsylvania, and of the Op- 
position Party of New eTersey, and all others who are willing 
to co-operate with them in support of the candidates which 
shall there be nominated, and who are opposed to the policy 
of the present administration, to federal corruption and 
usurpation, to the extension of slavery into the territories, to 
the new and dangerous political doctrine that the Constitution 
of its own force carries slavery into all the territories of the 
United States, to the reopening of the African slave trade, 
to any inequality of rights among citizens and who are 
in favor of the immediate admission of Kansas into the 
Union under the constitution recently adopted by its people, 
of restoring the Federal administration to a system of rigid 
economy and to the principles of Washington and Jefferson, 
of maintaining inviolate the rights of the states and defend- 
ing the soil of every state and territory from lawless invasion, 
and of preserving the integrity of this Union and the 
supremacy of the Constitution and laws passed in pursuance 
thereof against the conspiracy of the leaders of a sectional 
party to resist the majority principle as established in this 
government, even at the expense of its existence, — are in- 

^For the details of the proceedings I have referred to Proceed- 
ings of the First Three Republican National Conventions; Conven- 
tions of 1856, i860 and 1864, republished under the direction of the 
Republican National Convention of 1892 by Charles W. Johnson, who 
was secretary of that Convention. 

^ In later conventions this was done by the secretary. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 



67 



vited to send from each State two delegates from each Con- 
gressional district, and four delegates at large to the Con- 
vention. 



Edwin D. Morgan, N. Y., 

Chairman. 
Joseph Bartlett, 'Me. 
George G. Fogg, N. H. 
Lawrence Brainerd, Yt. 
John Z. Goodrich, Mass. 
Gideon Welles, Conn. 
George H. Harris, I\Id. 
Thomas Spooner, Ohio. 
James Ritchie, Ind. 
Norman B. Judd, 111. 
0. P. ScHOOLFiELD, Tenn. 
James Sherman, N. J. 



Zachariah Chandler, Mich. 
John H. Tweedy, Wis. 

Alex. H. Ramsey, IMinn. 
Andrew J. Stevens, la. 
Asa S. Jones. Mo. 
Thomas Williams, Penn. 
Alfred Caldwell, Ya. 
Cassius M. Clay, Ky. 
Martin F. Conway, Kas. 
Lewis Clephane, D, C. 
Cornelius Cole, Cal. 
Wm. M. Chace, R. I. 
E. D. Williams, Del. 



Mr. Wilmot, the temporary president having ad- 
dressed the meeting, it was then moved and carried 
that a committee consisting of one delegate from each 
State and Territory reiDresented at this convention be 
elected by the delegates thereof, who should "report of- 
ficers to this convention for a permanent organization." 

A departure from the practice followed in 1856 of 
having a joint committee on credentials, rules and ap- 
pointments was made, at the suggestion of the national 
committee, and it was agreed that a committee, "con- 
sisting of one delegate from each State and Territory 
represented in the Convention selected by the delgates 
thereof, be appointed" who should act as a committee 
on credentials. 

Mr. Noble of Iowa then offered a resolution which 
was adopted "that there be one delegate from each 
delegation selected by the delegates themselves to act 



68 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ■ 

as a committee to prepare the order of business for 
this Convention/' 

It was also moved and carried that the rules of the 
House of Kepresentatives be adopted for the govern- 
ment of the convention until otherwise ordered. 

A motion was then made and carried that the roll 
of the States be called, and that the delegates of each 
State through their member on the committee present 
the credentials of that State to the chairman of the 
committee on credentials. 

An adjournment was thereupon taken until fL\e 
o'clock in the afternoon, when the committee on per- 
manent organization reported George Ashmun ^ of Mas- 
sachusetts as permanent president of the convention, 
with a vice-president and secretary from each State and 
Territory ^ of the Union represented. The report was 
adopted and an address by Mr. Ashmun then followed. 
At its conclusion a resolution was moved and adopted 
that "a committee of one from each State and Terri- 
tory be appointed to be nominated by the delegates of 
the respective States on resolutions and platform" and 
it was also agreed that "all the resolutions submitted 
to this Convention be referred to that committee with- 
out debate." 

The chair then called the roll of States and Terri- 
tories for the purpose of receiving the names of mem- 
bers to constitute a committee on resolutions, and one 
from each State and Territory was appointed from 

^The friend of Webster who had labored for his nomination in 
1852. 

^ There were 27 vice-presidents and 26 secretaries. For some rea- 
son the District of Columbia was not included in the list of 
secretaries. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 69 

each delegation. This finished the work of the first 
day. 

It was then resolved that "the delegations from eacli 
State and Territory represented in the convention be 
requested to designate and report the name of one in- 
dividual to serve as a member" of the national com- 
mittee for the ensuing four years. 

Mr. Nourse of Iowa moved to amend the resolution 
so that the delegation should be authorized to select 
as members of the national committee persons wlio 
were not members of the convention. This resolution 
which was adopted was a change, it will be recalled, 
from the practice followed in the convention of 185G 
but has been the established custom ever since. 

The next day the president announced that the re- 
ports of the committees were in order. 

The committee on order of business and rules made 
a report which was amended ^ and adopted in the fol- 
lowing form : 

Rule 1. Upon all subjects before the Convention the 
States and Territories shall be called in the following order: 
Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode 
Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Mary^land, Delaware, Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Mis- 
souri, Texas , Wisconsin, Iowa, California, Minnesota, Oregon, 
Kansas, Nebraska, District of Columbia. 

Eide 2. Four votes shall be cast by the delegates-at- 
large of each State and each Congressional District shall be 
entitled to two votes. The votes of each delegation shall be 
reported by its Chairman, Provided, that no delegation shall 
cast a greater number of votes than there are delegates in 

* For a discussion of this see infra, pages 149^ 150. 



70 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

attendance and Provided, that this rule shall not conflict with 
any rule reported by the Committee on Credentials and 
adopted by the Convention.^ 

Eide 3. The report of the Committee on Platform and 
Resolutions shall be acted upon before the Convention pro- 
ceeds to ballot for President and Vice-President. 

Rule 4. That a majority of the whole number of votes 
represented in this Convention according to the votes pre- 
scribed by the second rule, shall be required to nominate 
candidates for President and Vice-President. 

Rule 5. The rules of the House of Representatives shall 
continue to be the rules of this Convention, in so far as they 
are applicable and not inconsistent with the foregoing rules. 

An interesting debate arose on a proposition to re- 
quire a vote equal to a majority of full delegations 
from all the States to nominate candidates for Pres- 
ident and Vice-President, which, with the delegates 
actually in attendance, would have been about equiv- 
alent to a two-thirds rule,^ such as is the established 
rule of procedure in Democratic conventions. This 
proposition was voted down and the convention de- 

^ These latter provisions were necessitated because the report of the 
committee on credentials which prescribed the basis of representation 
in the convention appeared to conflict with Rule 2. In the case of 
Texas and certain other States the committee on credentials had pro- 
vided that these States should have less votes than would have been 
accorded to them under this rule and as the report of the committee 
on credentials had already been adopted, the convention could not very 
properly adopt a rule which would be inconsistent with this report 
(OMcial Proceedings of the Republican National Convention of i860, 
pp. 124-5-6). 

^ For a fuller discussion of the debate and of the two-thirds rule 
in Republican national conventions, see infra, page 148, et seq. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 71 

cided by a vote of 358% to 94%, that only a majority 
of those present and voting should be required to nomi- 
nate candidates, and this has been the rule of all sub- 
sequent Eepublican conventions. 

The committee on credentials reported the names 
and numbers of delegates elected from the several 
States and the votes to which each State was entitled 
as well as the names of the delegates present and 
elected from the District of Columbia and the Terri- 
tories of Kansas and Nebraska, leaving it for the con- 
vention to decide whether they should be permitted 
to vote as members of that body.^ Though not named 
in the call, the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska 
were each given six votes in the convention.^ 

Next followed the report of the committee on reso- 
lutions and platform. The eager convention might 
have accepted a weak and defective platform, but the 
committee on the contrary reported one framed with 
remarkable skill and care. The aim of the committee 
had been to allow the greatest liberty of sentiment con- 
sistent with an emphatic assertion of the cardinal Ee- 
publican doctrine. In this they succeeded admirably, "^ 

"^The committee originally reported 8 delegates for Texas. 

This led to a serious discussion on the question of apportionment 
of delegates (see infra, page 107) and resulted in recommitting the 
report which the committee then altered giving Texas but 6 votes. 
(See also footnote to page 70, supra.) 

^ See supra, page 41, cf. with 1856. ; 

" The full text of the platform may be found in Curtis, The Re- 
publican party, I, 355, and also in Charles W. Johnson, OiUcial Report 
of the Proceedings of the Republican National Convention of i860, 
republished by order of the Convention of 1892, of which he was 
the secretary. 



72 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

To recapitulate the chief points of the platform '} it de- 
nounced disunion, Lecomptonism, the property theory, 
the dogma that the Constitution carries slavery into 
the Territories, the re-opening of the slave trade, the 
popular sovereignty and non-intervention notions and 
denied "the authority of Congress, of a Territorial 
legislature, or of individual, to give legal existence to 
slavery in any Territory of the United States." It op- 
posed any change in the naturalization laws. It recom- 
mended an adjustment of import duties to encourage 
the industrial interests of the whole country. It ad- 
vocated the immediate admission of Kansas, free home- 
steads to actual settlers, river and harbor improve- 
ments of a national character and a railroad to the 
Pacific Ocean. Bold on points of common agreement, 
the convention was unusually successful in avoiding 
topics of controversy among its supporters or offering 
grounds of criticism to its enemies. The silence on 
the "Fugitive Slave Law,'' on "Personal Liberty Bills,'' 
and on the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia also the avoidance of the direct mention of the 
Dred Scott decision were significant.^ 

After the vote had been taken on the adoption of 
the platform, by calling the roll of States^ and Terri- 
tories "the delegates and the whole vast audience rose 
to their feet in a transport of enthusiasm * * * 

' See Horace Greeley, New York Tribune, May 22nd, i860. Greeley 
was one of the committee on resolutions. Rhodes, History of the 
United States, II, 464- 

^ Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 464. 
" See Rule i, ante, page 69. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 7s 

while for many minutes the tremendous cheers and 
shouts of applause continued."^ 

The convention then adjourned until ten o'clock the 
next morning. 

On the third day, the convention re-assembled 
pursuant to adjournment. After the delegates had 
seated themselves, the proceedings were opened by 
prayer. The chair announced that the business in 
order was the balloting for a candidate for President 
of the United States. The convention voted to proceed 
to a ballot and the chairman stated that it was in 
order to present names for nomination. 

It was a curious feature, in the light of the present 
day practice, that no pompous nominating speeches 
were made, like those which formed dramatic features 
of later conventions,^ the names being merely formally 
presented. The following extracts from the Official 
Proceedings of 1860 ^ show in a most interesting manner 
a marked contrast to the unnecessary rhetoric, "electri- 
fying preludes'' and long-winded orations which to-day 
are part of the ceremony in our national conventions^ 

Mr. Evarts of New York, In the order of business 
before the Convention, Sir, I take the liberty to name as a 
candidate to be nominated by this Convention for the office 
of President of the United States, William H. Seward. (Pro- 
longed applause.) 

Mr. Judd of Illinois, I desire on behalf on the delega- 
tion from Illinois, to put in nomination as a candidate for 

^ See OMcial Proceedings, etc., p. 142. 

' Viz. : Robert G. Ingersoll's speech nominating Blaine at Cincin- 
nati in 1876 and Roscoe Conkling's nominating Grant at Chicago, in 
1880. 

^ Pages 148 and 149. 






74 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. 
(Immense applause, long continued.) 

Mr. Dudley of New Jersey, Mr. President, New Jersey 
presents the name of William L. Dayton. (Applause.) 

Mr. Keader of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania nominates as 
her candidate for the Presidency, General Simon Cameron. 
(Cheers.) 

Mr. Cartter of Ohio, Ohio presents to the consideration 
of this Convention, as a candidate for President, the name 
of Salmon P. Chase. (Applause.) 

Mr. C. B. Smith of Indiana, I desire, on behalf of the 
delegation from Indiana, to second the nomination of Abra- 
ham Lincoln of Illinois. (Tremendous applause.) 

Mr. Blair of Missouri, I am commissioned by the rep- 
resentatives of the State of Missouri to present to this con- 
vention the name of Edward Bates as a candidate for the 
Presidency. (Applause.) 

Mr. Blair of Michigan, In behalf of the delegates from 
Michigan, I second the nomination for President of the United 
States of William H. Seward. (Loud Applause.) 

Mr. Corwin of Ohio, I arise, Mr. President, at the re- 
quest of many gentlemen, part of them members of this con- 
vention, and many of them of [sic] the most respectable 
gentlemen known to the history of this country and its policies, 
to present the name of John McLean. (Applause.) 

Mr. Schurz of Wisconsin, I am commissioned by the 
delegation from the State of Wisconsin to second the nomina- 
tion of William H. Seward of New York. (Warm applause.) 

Various other delegates seconded the several nomi- 
nees and finally Mr. Andrew of Massachusetts, moved 
that they "proceed to vote." 

The convention then balloted, the States being 

called in geographical order. At the conclusion of the 

/\ first ballot, which occupied considerable time, the re- 



v/ 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 75 

suit was announced by the secretary of the convention 
as follows: 

For William H. Seward of New York, 173 1/2 ; for 
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois, 102 ; for Edward Bates of 
Missouri, 48; for Simon Cameron of Pennsylvania 
501/2; for John McLean of Ohio, 12; for Salmon P 
Chase of Ohio, 49; for Benjamin F. Wade of Ohio, 3 
for William L. Dayton of New Jersey, 14 ; for John M 
Read of Pennsylvania, 1; for Jacob Collamer of Ver- 
mont, 10; for Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, 1; for 
John C. Fremont of California, 1. The whole number 
of votes cast, 465; necessary to a choice 233. 

The chair stated that no candidate having received 
a majority of the whole number of votes cast, the con- 
vention would proceed to a second ballot. 

On the second ballot Seward had 184%, Lincoln 
181 and all the rest 99^2- To win the Indiana delega- 
tion, David Davis, the manager for Lincoln, promised 
a cabinet position to Caleb Smith, one of the Indiana 
delegates-at-large, in case of Lincoln's election.^ To 
win the support of the close followers of Cameron of 
Pennsylvania, Davis promised that he too should have 
"a cabinet position in the event of Lincoln's election 
and this in addition to the other influences that had 
been used, secured nearly the whole vote of Pennsyl- 
vania." ^ Lincoln himself was ignorant of these baF- 

^Julian, Political Recollections, 182; Herndon, 471. 

^Herndon, Lincoln, III, 471; Lamon, Life of Abraham Lincoln, 
p. 449. Article of A. K. McClure, New York Sun, Dec. 13, 1891. 
See also Julian, Political Recollections, p. 182; Curtis, II, 467. 



76 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY- 

gains at the time and they were made against his posi- 
tive direction.^ 

On the third ballot Seward had 180, while Lincoln 
had 231%, lacking but 1% votes of the necessary num- 
ber to nominate. Before another ballot could be taken, 
the change of four votes of Ohio from Chase to Lincoln 
gave him the nomination. Various other States also 
changed their votes and the final vote as announced by 
the secretary was as follows: Whole number of votes 
cast, 466, necessary to a choice, 234 ; for . Abraham 
Lincoln of Illinois, 364 votes. The chairman then an- 
nounced: "Abraham Lincoln of Illinois is selected as 
your candidate for President of the United States." 

Mr. Evarts, the chairman of the New York delega- 
tion, moved that the nomination be made unanimous; 
Mr. Andrews, chairman of the Massachusetts delega- 
tion, Mr. Schurz for the delegation of Wisconsin and 
Mr. Blair for Michigan seconded the motion. This 
motion was carried amid tumultuous cheering, al- 
though no record of a formal vote appears in the of- 
ficial proceedings.^ 

The fact that Mr. Evarts moved that Lincoln's nom- 

^"The responsible position assigned to me comes without condi- 
tions." Lincoln to Giddings, May 2ist, i860. Julian, Life of Giddings, 
p. 376. 

^"The nomination of Lincoln was received in the wigwam with 
such shouts, cheers and thunders of applause that the report of the 
cannon on the roof of the building signalling the event could at 
times hardly be heard inside. The excited masses in the street about 
the wigwam cried out with delight. Chicago was wild with joy. 
One hundred guns were fired from the top of the Tremont House. 
Processions of 'Old Abe' men bearing rails were everywhere to be 
seen and they celebrated their victory by deep potations of their 
native beverage." (Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 471.) 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 77 

illation be made unanimous is significant as illustrat- 
ing the complete party discipline which at this early 
date prevailed in the Republican ranks, for it was the 
New York delegation, of which Mr. Evarts was chair- 
man, which had most violently opposed Lincoln's nom- 
ination and had been most ardently in favor of Seward. 

After a brief adjournment the convention re-as- 
sembled and was called to order by the president at 
five o'clock. The chair announced that the first busi- 
ness in order w^as to proceed to ballot for a candidate 
to be supported by the party as its nominee for Vice- 
President of the United States. Several delegates arose 
and made nominations. There were cast 466 votes; 
234 being necessary for a choice. Hannibal Hamlin of 
Maine received 357 votes on the second ballot and was 
nominated as candidate of the Republican party for 
Vice-President. The motion to make the nomination 
of Mr. Hamlin unanimous was then put to a vote and 
carried with enthusiasm. The jDrocedure for the nomi- 
nation of a candidate for Vice-President was identical 
with that employed to select the presidential nominee. 

On motion of Mr. Tuck of New Hampshire, the 
president of the convention and the chairmen of the 
respective State and Territorial delegations w^ere ap- 
pointed a committee to notify the candidates of their 
unanimous nomination by the convention. 

Mr. Smith of Indiana then moved that the roll of 
States be called and that each delegation appoint a 
member of the national committee for the next four 
years. The roll was then called and a committee se- 
lected, consisting of 26 members in all, one being 
named by each State and Territory represented in the 
convention. 



78 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY- , 

A resolution of thanks and appreciation of the con- 
vention for the "hospitality, taste, zeal and munificence 
displayed by the ladies and gentlemen of the City of 
Chicago," then followed, also the thanks of the conven- 
tion to the Hon. George Ashmun of Massachusetts for 
the admirable manner in which he had presided over 
its deliberations, and to the vice-presidents and secre- 
taries for the able manner in which they had di*- 
charged their duties. 

Mr. Sargeant of California moved that "the Conven- 
tion do now adjourn sine die, with nine cheers for the 
Convention and the ticket." The motion prevailed and 
the convention was by the president declared adjourned 
sine die. 

At a meeting held in Chicago May 18th, 1860, the 
national committee organized as it had done four 
years previously, choosing Hon. Edwin D. Morgan of 
New York, chairman, and George G. Fogg of New 
Hampshire, secretary. Subsequently an executive com- 
mitte, consisting of seven of its members was chosen 
by the national committee. This was a new departure, 
for in 1856, when the first Eepublican national com- 
mittee organized,^ no such executive committee was 
chosen. It has however become an established custom 
and frequently the chairman of the national com- 
mittee is called the chairman of the national ex- 
ecutive committee.^ In recent years, when, under a 
rule adopted by the convention of 1888, the national 
committee chooses an executive committee, the members 

^ See supra, page 54. 

'^ See Proceedings of the National Union Convention held in Balti- 
more, Md., June 7th and 8th, 1864. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 79 

of which need not be members of the national commit- 
tee, it sometimes happens that the chairman of this 
latter committee is not the same person as the national 
committee chairman. 

Unlike, the practice in the succeeding national cam- y 
paigns, the national committee in 1860 did not actually 
become the directing body for the ensuing presidential 
contest. Lincoln had campaign managers of his own.^ 

'^Nearly all the educational features of the campaign 
of 1856 were repeated; the published debates of Lincoln 
and Douglas were read with interest and effect; yet 
less reliance was placed on newspapers and campaign 
documents than in the previous presidential canvass." ^ 
Horace Greeley says : "While the circulation of speeches, 
campaign lives, and pamphlet essays has not been re- 
markably large, the number of meetings and oral ad- 
dresses in this canvass has been beyond precedent. We 
judge that the number of speeches made during the re- 
cent campaign has been quite equal to that of all that 
were made in the previous presidential canvasses from 
1789 to 1856 inclusive." ^ 

A large proportion of the voters understood the 
several phases of the great slavery issue, its abstract 
morality, its economic influence on society, the in- 
trigue of the administration and the Senate to make 
Kansas a slave State, the judicial status of slavery as 
expounded in the Dred Scott decision, the validity and 
the effect of the fugitive slave law, the question of the 
balance of political power as involved in the choice be- 
tween slavery extension and slavery restriction and, 

^ See supra., page 75. 

'Rhodes, II, 484- 

'New York Tribune, November 8th, i860. 



8o FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY' 

reaching beyond even this, the issue, so clearly pre- 
sented by Lincoln, whether the States should become 
ultimately all slave or all free. "In the whole history of 
American politics, the voters of the United States 
never pronounced a more deliberate judgment than that 
which they recorded upon these grave questions at the 
presidential election, in November, 1860. 

The younger generation of voters who had been 
studying the slavery question since 1852, took a vital 
interest in this campaign. They read the political liter- 
ature with avidity. Filled with enthusiasm they were 
glad to enroll themselves in the Wide-awake Order ^ 
and make manifest their determination to do all in 
their power to avert a continuance" - of the rule of 
the Slave Power. "The Eepublican party," said Seward 
at Cleveland, October 4th, 1860, "is a party chiefly of 
young men. Each successive year brings into its rank 
an increasing proportion of the young men of this 
country." ^ 

The presidential election occurred on November 6th, 
1860. In seventeen of the free States, — namely, Maine, 
New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, In- 
diana, Illinois, Michigan Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, 
California and Oregon, — all the Lincoln electors were 
chosen. In one of the free States (New Jersey) the 
choice resulted in four electors for Lincoln and three 
for Douglas. This assured Lincoln of the votes of 

^Nicolay and Hay, II, 284. 
''Rhodes, II, 483. 

'Seward's Works, Vol. IV, p. 384- On the importance of young 
men, see New York Tribune, July 30th, i860. 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS, 1856 AND i860 81 

180 presidential electors or a majority of 57 in the 
whole electoral college. The fifteen slave States were di- 
vided among the other three candidates, Breckenridge, 
receiving 72 electoral votes; Donglas 12 and Bell 39. 
Of the popular vote Lincoln had 1,866,542; Douglas 
1,376,957; Breckenridge 819,781; Bell 588,879.^ A ma- 
jority of almost a million of the total popular vote was 
against the Republicans.^ 

While in the crisis brought on by the slavery ques- 
tion the old party lines disappeared, yet their system 
of organization survived. 

The Republicans, who represented the new current 
in the life of the parties, adopted the machinery of the 
organization in vogue, — the convention and committee 
system in all its completeness. It was then in such 
common use that it commanded acceptance almost like 
a natural phenomenon and indeed, a party, whose 
origins were so laborious and which had to contend 
against such powerful opponents, could only hope to 

'Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 365; These figures are different 
in Rhodes, History of the United States, II, 500, 501, as follows : Lin- 
coln, 1,857,610; Douglas, 1,291,574; Breckenridge, 850,087; Bell, 
646,124. 

^ In round figures the Presidential vote of the Liberty Free-Soil and 
Republican parties was as follows : subject to allowance for vote not 
counted in the first four elections : 

1840 Birney 7,100 

1844 Birney 62,300 

1848 Van Buren ) 

Gerrit Smith \ ^^'^^ 

1852 John P. Hale 155,900 

1856 Fremont 1,341,000 

i860 Lincoln 1,900,000 

At the North, however, Lincoln's majority over Douglas, Brecken- 
ridge and Bell was 293,769,— Greeley's American Conflict, I, p. 328. 



82 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTV 

win by adopting an organization ready at hand, of the 
type sanctioned by popular customs. 

When the second national convention of the Repub- 
lican party adjourned, May 18th, 1860, the national 
organization was substantially complete. By that date 
they had created precedents that were to live for more 
than half a century, — the call for the national conven- 
tion by the national committee, the national convention 
itself, that unique quadrennial political conclave, with 
its officers temporary and permanent, its rules of pro- 
cedure, its four great committees, its platform and 
nominations, the principle of majority nomination of 
candidates, the fixed number of delegates and the na- 
tional committee with its chairman, executive com- 
mittee and vast powers including that of nominating 
temporary officers for the convention. 



CHAPTEE III 

Development of the Republican National Nomi- 
nating Machinery from 1864 to 1884 

The Call. When the Republican party was formed 
as a national organization in 1856, "its mechanism 
was patterned and fashioned after that of the late 
Whig party." ^ In fact the men, who had resigned 
from the Whig party or the Douglas Democracy in 
order to enter its ranks, naturally carried with them 
into the new fold the practices and customs which they 
had pursued for years in the ranks of the old party. 

It was therefore only natural that, when the chair- 
men of the Republican State committees of Maine, 
Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin desired to call 
a preliminary gathering or convention to perfect the 
national organization of the then infant Republican 
party, they should have issued a call following the 
customary form adopted by the anti-Masonic party for 
its first national convention in 1831 and in the same 
year by the National Republican or Whig party and 
at regular intervals thereafter by the various national 
political organizations to summon the great quadren- 
nial party conclave. 

With the growth of party organization, both the 

^ These words were used by General Stewart L, Woodford, in 
the course of an interview with the writer and are a faithful de- 
scription by a living actor in the scenes of those days. 



84 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTV 

manner of issuing the call and its form and provisions 
have assumed a regularity and system which were 
lacking in earlier times. The call for the first national 
convention ever held, — the anti-Masonic convention of 
1831, — was in the form of a mere resolution of recom- 
mendation adopted by a sort of preliminary conference 
of delegates. Down to 1852 the call for a national con- 
vention was usually issued either by a congressional 
caucus or by a caucus of the party members of some 
State legislature. At the Democratic convention in 
Baltimore on the 22nd day of May, 1848, a committee 
was appointed to serve during the ensuing four years, 
whose duty it should be among other things to issue 
the call for the national convention which the party 
would hold in 1852, and from that date in the case of 
an established political party this call has been issued 
by a permanent body known as the national com- 
mittee (to which a subsequent chapter is devoted^ ) , the 
members of which are chosen at each convention to 
serve during the four years ensuing. 

When "the self-appointed body," ^ consisting of the 
chairmen of the State Republican committees of the 
nine States mentioned above, issued the call on Jan- 
uary 17th, 1856, for the informal convention to be 
held at Pittsburg on February 22nd of that year, it had 
before it a perfectly definite model. Though it did not 
style itself a national committee, it might have done 
so more appropriately than the local Washington As- 
sociation previously referred to which assumed that 
designation. Still it must be borne in mind that 

'^ Infra, Chapter IV. 
^ See supra, page 27. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 85 

neither of these bodies was a national committee in 
the sense in which that term is now employed in 
political literature. 

A ^'National Executive Committee" was appointed 
at the Pittsburg gathering which issued a call from 
Washington on the 29th of March, 1856, for the first 
national convention of the Republican party to meet 
in Philadelphia on the 17th of June, 1856. The first 
call bore only five signatures, — a few others being sub- 
sequently appended, but this latter call was signed by 
twenty-two delegates, one from each State represented 
at the Pittsburg convention and also the District of 
Columbia, constituting the national executive commit- 
tee or what was later called merely the national com- 
mittee. 

Whereas the first call invited '^the Republicans of 
the Union to meet in informal convention" for the pur- 
pose of perfecting the national organization, the latter 
call invited the people of the United States to send a 
certain number of delegates from each State for the 
purpose of recommending candidates to be supported 
by the party for the offices of President and Vice-Pres- 
ident. In addition to specifying the purposes for which 
the convention was called and the number of delegates 
to be sent by each State, the call also fixed the date and 
place for holding the first national convention of the 
Republican party. 

The call for the convention of 1860 varied but 
slightly, as we have seen, from that of 1856. It 
bore the signatures of the members of the national 
committee chosen at the preceding convention, and 
named the time and place for holding the next national 
Republican convention, but differed in this material re- 



86 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY, 

spect from the call of the Philadelphia convention of 
1856, that instead of "three delegates from each con- 
gressional district and six delegates at large," each 
State was invited to send "two delegates from each 
congressional district and four delegates at large to 
the convention." 

It also differed in this respect that, whereas the 
previous call had been directed to "the people of the 
United States without regard to past political dif- 
ferences or divisions" who favored certain principles 
and were opposed to certain others, this call (the na- 
tional committee having in the interim been informed 
as to the temper of the people in the several States) 
was directed to "the Kepublican electors of the several 
States, the members of the People's Party of Penn- 
sylvania and the Opposition Party of New Jersey and 
all others who are willing to co-operate with them." 
This call is also significant in that the national com- 
mittee, which formulated it, presented thei^ein in much 
detail what they regarded as the precise issues of the 
hour, such as the right of Congress to prohibit the 
extension of slavery in the Territories and the im- 
mediate admission of Kansas as a free State. 

In 1864 certain radical opponents of Mr. Lincoln, 
forestalled the regular Kepublican convention by a 
convention which was held on the 31st day of May at 
Cleveland,^ pursuant to a call signed by B. Gratz 
Brown and others, but we need not concern ourselves 
with this, which was not a regular party movement 
and which afterwards withdrew its nominees. 

The call for the regular Republican convention was 

* Curtis, The Republican Party, I, 431. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 87 

issued from Wasliiugton, February 22nd, 1864, al- 
though the word "Kepublican" was avoided, as will be 
seen from the following ^ : 

Union National Convention. 

The undersigned who by original appointment, or subse- 
quent designation to fill vacancies, constitute the Executive 
Committee created by the National Convention held at Chicago 
on the 16th day of May, 1860, do hereby call upon all quali- 
fied voters who desire the unconditional maintenance of the 
Union, the supremacy of the Constitution and the complete 
suppression of the existing rebellion with the cause thereof 
by vigorous war and all apt and efficient means, to send 
delegates to a convention to assemble at Baltimore on Tues- 
day, the 7th day of June, 1864, at 12 o'clock noon, for the 
purpose of presenting candidates for the offices of President 
and Vice-President of the United States. Each State having 
a representation in Congress, will be entitled to as many dele- 
gates as shall be equal to twice the number of electors to 
which such State is entitled in the electoral college of the 
United States. 

Edwin D. Moegan, N. Y., Jos. Gerhardt, D. of C. 

Chairman, Gideon Welles, Conn. 

Charles J. Gilman, Maine. Denning Duer, N. J. 

E. H. Rollins, N. H. Edward McPherson, Penn. 

L. Brainerd, Vermont. N. B. Smithers, Delaware. 

J. Z. Goodrich, Mass. J. F. Wagner, Maryland. 

Thomas G. Turner, R. I. Thomas Spooner, Ohio. 

H. S. Lane, Indiana. Carl Schurz, Wisconsin. 

Samuel L. Casey, Kentucky. W. D. Washburn, Minn. 

E. Peck, Illinois. Cornelius Cole, California. 

^ Proceedings of the First Three Republican National Conventions 
of 1856, i860 and 1864, republished by order of the convention of 1892 
by Charles W. Johnson, Secretary (Minneapolis, Minn.). 



88 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY . 

Herbert M. Hoxie, Iowa. William A. Phillips, Kan. 

Austin Blair, Michigan. 0. H. Irish, Nebraska. 

Washington, February 22, 1864. 

The Eepublican party of 1860 now called itself the 
"Union Party/' and the Eepublican national committee 
appointed by the convention which had nominated 
Lincoln, now called itself, in 1864, the "Union National 
Committee." The cause is not difficult to ascertain. 
The war had served to efface in a measure the usual 
party lines. The Eepublicans had been compelled to 
rally to their support all, who believed in a strong union 
policy, regardless of their previous political affilia- 
tions and thus there were found, within the ranks of 
the so-called Eepublican party, "disgruntled Whigs, 
Free-Soilers, and Unionist Democrats whose sole bond 
of connection was the common opposition to secession" 
and general support of the first Lincoln administra- 
tion. 

■ Thus, in 1864, the call for the Eepublican na- 
tional convention was worded, as the calls for many 
of the State conventions had been, so as to include in 
the invitation everyone regardless of former party re- 
lations who would stand by the administration and 
its measures. It was addressed to all qualified voters 
"who desire the unconditional maintenance of the 
Union, the supremacy of the Constitution and the 
complete suppression of the existing rebellion with 
the cause thereof by vigorous war and all apt and 
efficient means." ^ Accordingly, to maintain its ap- 
peal to the many different elements it assumed the 
name of "Union." Even in the campaign of 1868, 

^See supra. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 89 

the party used the title "Republican-Union." It was 
not until the next presidential election in 1872 that 
the original title "Republican" was definitely as- 
sumed ;i and even then the title "Republican-Union" 
was used in the calls of 1872 and 1876. 

The committee that issued the call in 1861 "took 
upon themselves the responsibility of suppressing the 
party name. They describe themselves as ^The under- 
signed who by original appointment or by subsequent 
designation to fill vacancies, constitute the Executive 
Committee created by the National Convention held at 
Chicago on May 16th, I860.'" With the exception of 
the call for the convention of 1880 this call is the 
briefest ever promulgated by a Republican national 
committee.^ 

It was on account of the Union Democrats in the 
convention that Andrew Johnson though a Southern 
man and a Democrat was placed on the ticket as Vice- 
President. This nomination and the resultant conflict 
between the Executive and the Houses of Congress, 
when Johnson became President, produced a great 
change in party organization and party leadership by 
the formation of the so-called congressional committee 
or congressional campaign committee, a discussion of 
which is reserved to a subsequent chapter.^ 

In the early conventions of the other parties it had 

^On the reconstruction of the Republican party during the Civil 
War see William A. Dunning in American Historical Review, XVI, 
56-63. 

^ See infra the call for the convention of 1880. 

' See infra, Chapter IV. 



90 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY -, 

been the general rule to give to each State as many 
votes as it had electoral votes, while the number of 
delegates which a State might send was not always 
fixed. After 1853, however, the number of delegates 
to the Democratic national convention was definitely 
fixed at double the number of votes to which the State 
was entitled in the electoral college,^ and each delegate 
was entitled to half a vote in the convention. This was 
continued by the Democrats until 1872, when the 
present rule was adopted of allowing to ea€h State 
twice as many votes as it had votes in the electoral 
college. The latter method, i. e., twice as many dele- 
gates (each entitled to one vote), as a State has votes 
in its electoral college, has been in vogue in Repub- 
lican conventions ever since 1860. 

As we have seen, the call for the convention of 1856 
invited each State to send "three delegates from each 
congressional district and six delegates at large"; in 
1860 "two delegates from each congressional district 
and four delegates at large." The call for the conven- 
tion of 1864 declared each State, having a representa- 
tion in Congress, "entitled to as many delegates as 
shall be equal to twice the number of electors to which 
such State is entitled in the electoral college of the 
United States." This was the same in mathematical 

^Candidates for presidential electors are nominated at State con- 
ventions of the respective parties, held either before or after the meet- 
ing of the national convention. One elector is nominated for each 
congressional district in the State and two for the State-at-large. 
Though usually nominated by the State convention they are some- 
times chosen at separate district conventions, or the delegates from 
the district to the State convention may choose the district elector. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 91 

result as the call of 1860/ only the States were no 
longer restricted by the wording of the call as to 
whether the delegates should represent districts or the 
State at large. In 1868, as we shall see, still a dif- 
ferent form of wording was used, resulting however in 
the same number of delegates from each State. 

Though many Territories and the District of Colum- 
bia were represented in the conventions of 1860 and 
1864, nothing was said as yet in the calls for these re- 
spective conventions regarding the sending of delegates 
by any Territory or the District of Columbia. This, we 
shall see, was provided for as to the Territories for 
the first time in the call for the convention of 1872 
and as to the District of Columbia, in the call for the 
convention of 1876. 

On Wednesday, May 20th, 1868, a call 2 was issued 
for the National Union Kepublican convention to be 
held at Chicago, May 20th of that year as follows: 

National Union Eepublican Convention. 

The undersigned, constituting the National Committee 
designated by the Convention held at Baltimore on the 7th 
of June, 1864, do appoint that a Convention of the Union 
Kepublican party be held in the City of Chicago, on Wednes- 
day the 20th day of May next, at 12 'clock M. for the purpose 
of nominating candidates for the offices of President and 
Vice-President of the United States. 

Each State in the United States is authorized to be rep- 
resented in said Convention by a number of delegates equal 

^ See supra. 

^ Official Proceedings of the National Union Republican Conten- 
tion, held at Chicago May 20th and 21st, 1868, reported by Ely, Burn- 
ham and Bartlett, Official Reporters of the convention, Chicago, 1868. 



92 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

to twice the number of Senators and Representatives, to which 
each State is entitled in the National Congress. 

We invite the co-operation of all citizens who rejoice 
that our great Civil War has happily terminated in the dis- 
comforture of rebellion, who would hold fast the unity 
and integrity of the Republic, and maintain its paramount 
right to defend to the utmost its existence, whether imperilled 
by a secret conspiracy or armed force ; \sic\ of an economical 
administration of the public expenditures; of the complete 
extirpation of the principles and policy of slavery and of the 
speedy reorganization of those States whose governments were 
destroyed by the rebellion, and the permanent restoration to 
their proper practical relations with the United States, in ac- 
cordance with the true principles of a republican government. 

Marcus L. Ward, N. J. John D. De Frees, Ind., 

Chairman. Secretary. 

S. J. BowEN, D. C. J. B. Clark, N. J. 

Wm. Claflin, Mass. A. B. Gardner, Yt. 

J. S. Fov7LEr, Tenn. S. A. Purviance, Penn. 

Marsh Giddings, Mich. B. C. Cook, 111. 

A. W. Campbell, W. Va. D. B. Stubbs, la. 

N. B. Smithers, Del. H. C. Hoffman, Md. 

W. A. Pile, Mo. W. J. Cowing, Ya. 

S. JuDD, Wis. C. L. Robinson, Fla. 
H. H. Starkweather, Conn. Horace Greeley, N. Y. 

Wm. Windom, Minn. B. R. Cowmen, Ohio. 

D. R. Goodloe, N. C. N. Edmunds, Dak. 

Samuel Crawford, Kan. Thos. G. Turner, R. I. 

J. P. Chaffee, Col. S. F. Hersey, Me. 

It should be noticed that the phraseology used to 
designate the number of delegates to w^hich each State 
was entitled, though differing from that previously em- 
ployed, produced exactly the same mathematical result 
and, as we shall see, has been employed almost con- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 93 

stantly in succeeding calls for Eepublican national con- 
ventions; but, no matter what the language, the repre- 
sentation of the State in the convention has always 
equalled twice its representation in the electoral col- 
lege of the United States. 

Here again we note a change of party names. The 
Eepublican party of 1856 and 1860 and the Union 
party of 1864 now, in the call of 1868, emerged as the 
National Union Republican party, ^ — the name being a 
sort of combination of its earlier appellations. 

The calls, as the reader may have noticed, have 
with one exception been growing longer and more 
elaborate with each year. Hitherto they contained 
only designs for the future, but in 1872 the call ^ for 
the fifth quadrennial convention of the Republican 
party contained an elaborate description of the party's 
past performances, as will be seen from the following: 

The undersigned, constituting the National Committee 
designated by the Convention held at Chicago on the 20th 
of 'May, 1868, hereby call a Convention of the Union Republi- 
can Party at the City of Philadelphia, on Wednesday, the 
5th day of June next, at 12 o'clock noon, for the purpose of 
nominating candidates for the offices of President and Vice- 
President of the United States. 

Each State is authorized to be represented in the con- 
vention by delegates equal to twice the number of Senators 
and Representatives to which it will be entitled in the next 
National Congress, and each organized Territory is authorized 
to send two delegates. 

^ See Official Proceedings, etc., 1868. 

^Curtis, The Republican Party, II, 11 ; Proceedings of the National 
Union Republican Convention held at Philadelphia, June 5 and 6, 
1872, reported by Francis H. Smith, officially reported and printed by 
Gibson Bros., Printers, Washington, 1872. 



94 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

In calling this Convention, tlie Committee remind the 
country that the promises of the Union Republican Conven- 
tion of 1868 have been fulfilled. The States lately in re- 
bellion have been restored to their former relations to the 
government. The laws of the country have been faithfully 
executed, public faith has been preserved, and the national 
credit firmly established. Governmental economy has been 
illustrated by the reduction, at the same time, of the public 
debt and of taxation; and the funding of the national debt 
at a lower rate of interest has been successfully inaugurated. 
The rights of naturalized citizens have been protected by 
treaties, and immigration encouraged by liberal provisions. 
The defendants of the Union have been gratefully remem- 
bered, and the rights and interests of labor recognized. Laws 
have been enacted, and are being enforced, for the protection 
of persons and property in all sections. Equal suffrage has 
been engrafted on the National Constitution; the privileges 
and immunities of American citizenship have become a part 
of the organic law and a liberal policy has been adopted 
toward all who engaged in the rebellion. Complications in 
foreign relations have been adjusted in the interests of peace 
throughout the world, while the national honor has been 
maintained. Corruption has been exposed, offenders punished, 
responsibility enforced, safeguards established, and now, as 
heretofore, the Republican Party stands pledged to correct 
all abuses and carry out all reforms necessary, to maintain the 
purity and efficiency of the public service. To continue and 
firmly establish its fundamental principles, we invite the- 
co-operation of all the citizens of the United States. 

William Claflin, Mass., Wm. E. Chandler, N. H., 

Chairman. Secretary. 

John A. Peters, Me. Thos. W. Osborn, Fla. 

LuKP^ V. Poland, Vt. L. C. Carpenter, S. C. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 



95 



L. B. Frieze, R. I. 

H. H. Starkweather, Conn. 

James Gopsill, N. J. 

W. K. Kemble, Pa. 

H. M. Jenkins, Del. 

B. R. CowEN, Ohio. 
John Coburn, Ind. 

C. B. Farwell, 111. 
Zachariah Chandler, Mich. 
J. T. AvERiLL, Minn. 
David Atwood, Wise. 

G. W. McCrary, Iowa. 

C. C. Fulton, Md. 

F. Stearns, Va. 

John R. Hubbard, W. Va. 

Wm. Sloan, N. C. 



J. H. Caldwell, Ga. 

J. P. Stow, Ala. 

M. H. Southworth, La. 

A. C. FisK, Miss. 

S. C. PoMEROY, Kan. 

B. F. Rice, Ark. 
J. B. Clark, Mo. 
A. B. Burton, Ky. 
H. Maynard, Tenn. 
E. B. Taylor, Neb. 
J. W. Nye, Nev. 

H. W. CoRBETT, Ore. 
G. C. GoRHAM, Cal. 
J. V. Chapfee, Colo. 
W. A. Burleigh, Dak. 
Sayt^es J. Bo WEN, D. of G 



Washington, D. C, Jan. 11th, 1872. 

This was the first call which provided expressly for 
territorial representatives. They had previously at- 
tended the conventions but the call had never hereto- 
fore recognized them; from now on it always did. As 
to the number of delegates, the rule followed is exactly 
that of the call for the preceding convention. 

The call ^ for the convention of 1876, of which the 
following is a copy, is significant in that the name 
"Union Republican National Convention" was still 
continued and in addition to territorial representa- 



i^ 



* Curtis, The Republican Party, II, 47 ; Proceedings of the Republi- 
can National Convention, held at Cincinnati, Ohio, lune 14, 15 and 
16, 1876, resulting in the nomination for President and Vice-President 
of Rutherford P. Hayes and William A. Wheeler, officially reported 
by M. A. Clancey, of Washington, D. C. Printed by Republican 
Press Association in Concord, New Hampshire, 1876. 



96 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY , 

tion in the convention, express provision was made 
for representation of the District of Columbia which, 
like each of the Territories was given two delegates : 

The next Union Republican National Convention, for the 
nomination of candidates for President and Vice-President 
of the United States, will be held in the city of Cincinnati, 
on Wednesday, the fourteenth day of June, 1876, at 12 
o'clock noon, and will consist of delegates from each State 
equal to twice the number of its senators and representatives 
in Congress, and of two delegates from each organized Ter- 
ritory and the District of Columbia. 

In calling the conventions for the election of delegates, the 
committees of the several States are recommended to invite 
all Republican electors, and all other voters, without regard 
to past political differences or previous party affiliations, who 
are opposed to reviving sectional issues, and desire to promote 
friendly feeling and permanent harmony throughout the 
country by maintaining and enforcing all the constitutional 
rights of every citizen, including the full and free exercise 
of the right of suffrage without intimidation and without 
fraud; who are in favor of the continued prosecution and 
punishment of all official dishonesty, and of an economical 
administration of the government by honest, faithful, and 
capable officers; who are in favor of making such reforms in 
government as experience may from time to time suggest; 
who are opposed to impairing the credit of the nation by 
depreciating any of its obligations, and in favor of sustaining 
in every way the national faith and financial honor; who 
hold that the common-school system is the nursery of Amer- 
ican liberty, and should be maintained absolutely free from 
sectarian control; who believe that, for the promotion of 
these ends, the direction of the government should continue 
to be confided to those who adhere to the principles of 1776, 
and support them as incorporated in the constitution and 
the laws; and who are in favor of recognizing and strength- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 97 

ening the fundamental principle of national unity in this 
centennial anniversary of the birth of the republic. 
E. D. Morgan, Chairman, 
Wm. E. Chandler, Secretary, 

Republican National Committee. 

Washington, January 13, 1876. 

It should also be noted that this call was signed only 
by the chairman and secretary of the national com- 
mittee and did not bear the signatures of all of the 
individual members of that committee. 

With reference to the number of delegates from 
each State the same language was used as in the 
several preceding calls and the call also contained an 
elaborate expression of the principles of the party. 

In the call ^ for the seventh Kepublican national 
convention to meet at Chicago, June 2nd, 1880, of 
which the following is a copy, we notice certain 
changes : 

Washington, January, 1880. 

A National Convention of the Republican Party will meet 
at Chicago, on Wednesday, the second day of June next, at 
twelve o'clock, for the nomination of candidates to be sup- 
ported for President and Vice-President of the next election. 
Republicans and all who will co-operate with them in sup- 
porting the nominees of the party, are invited to choose two 
delegates from each Congressional district, four at large from 
each State, two from each Territory, and two from the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, to represent them in the Convention. 

J. D. Cameron, Chairman, 
Thos. B. Keogh, Secretary. 

^Political Manual for 1880, edited and compiled by Stiles & 
Hutchins, 74 et seq. 



98 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

This is the briefest of all the calls. It contains no 
references to past performances or future party prin- 
ciples. The appeal is made only to ^^Republicans and 
all who will co-operate with them in supporting the 
nominees of the party." "The party was no longer an 
infant, and the principles it stood for were known; 
twenty years had elapsed since the federal government 
was first committed to its charge and the national com- 
mittee doubtless felt that the brief language above em- 
ployed was more significant than any elaborate declara- 
tion of principles in that place would have been." 

The language of the preceding calls with regard to 
the number of delegates from each State has been 
changed. Instead of "delegates * * * equal to 
twice the number of its Senators and Eepresentatives 
in Congress/' which was employed in most of the pre- 
ceding calls, we find now, "two delegates from each 
congressional district and four at large from each 
State," harking back to the language of the call of 
1860, but, as has been heretofore mentioned, the result, 
as far as the number of delegates which each State 
was entitled to send was concerned, was exactly the 
same as in previous years and has never varied since 
the call of 1860, no matter what the change or termi- 
nology may have been. 

In returning to the language of the call of 1860,^ 
a form which has been substantially employed in all 

^"It will thus be seen that the call for 1880, in inviting "two dele- 
gates from each Congressional district, four delegates at large from 
each State," purposely passes to and expressly adopts the language of 
the earlier calls of 1856 and i860. 

This form of call for this Convention was not, it may fairly be pre- 
sumed, adopted without a purpose. It was expressly intended to re- 
move any doubt which might possibly be raised and to make positive 
and indisputable district representation, which had its origin with the 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 99 

the calls succeeding that of 1876, the national com- 
mittee defined not only the number of delegates to 
which each State was entitled, but also indicated that 
certain delegates were from congressional districts and 
the others from the State at large. 

The custom established in 1876 of having the chair- 
man and the secretary of the national committee sign 
in lieu of the individual signatures of the members of 
that committee we find was again followed. This be- 
came the settled practice though occasionally (as in 
1900) the call for the convention. This call was issued 
by the executive committee of the national committee 
and signed by the chairman of that committee, who, 
by reason of a special provision ^ adopted at a later 
convention, was not necessarily a member of the real 
national committee at all. 

At the convention of 1880, over 100 pages of the 
published proceedings of the Republican national con- 
vention are devoted to the discussion over contested 
seats.- In order, if possible, to prevent a repetition 
of such a state of affairs, Mr. Boutwell ^ of Massachu- 
setts introduced an amendment to the report of the 
committee on rules, which was adopted, to the effect 
that the national Republican committee should within 
twelve months "prescribe a method or methods for the 

birth of the Republican party as shown by the calls for the Conven- 
tions of 1856 and i860." (Extract from the report of the committee 
on credentials as presented by its chairman, Mr. O. D. Conger, to the 
convention of 1880. See Official Procedings of the Convention of 
j88o, p. 422.) 

^ See infra, page 207. 

^Proceedings of the Republican National Convention, held at Chi- 
cago, Illinois, June 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th, 1880, pp. 45-150. 

^Ihid, 126. 



100 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY- . 

election of delegates to the Kepublican national con- 
vention to be held in 1884" and "issue a call for that 
convention in conformity therewith," provided that 
nothing in such rules or methods should be so con- 
strued as to prevent the several congressional districts 
in the United States from selecting their own delegates 
to the national convention. 

The national committee held a meeting at Washing- 
ton in 1883, at which an attempt was made to change 
the basis of representation at the national convention. 
No change in this respect was made however and the 
old basis was readopted; but a change was made in the 
choice of delegates by limiting the time for the holding 
of State conventions preceding the national conven- 
tions to not less than thirty days before the time of 
the national convention.^ This has remained unchanged. 

By this means the action of the national convention 
could not be too easily anticipated by the States and 
more power was given to the minority. 

Previous to 1884, the Eepublican national commit- 
tee in calling the convention gave no instructions as 
to the method of selecting delegates; but the call for 
that year specified that the four delegates-at-large 
should be chosen by State conventions and gave to the 
Kepublicans in the congressional districts the option 
of electing delegates by district conventions fifteen days 
before the State convention, or by district delegates 
at the meeting of the State convention. ^ 

^Mr. Curtis has made a slight error in stating that the time was 
limited to "not less than thirty nor more than sixty days, vide Curtis, 
The Republican party, II, 1 16, and his conclusions there stated are evi- 
dently wrong. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 loi 

The call for 1884 was as follows: 

Washington, D. C, Dec. 12, 1883. 

A National Republican Convention will meet at Chicago, 
111., Tuesday, June 3d, 1884, at 12 'clock noon, for the nomi- 
nation of candidates to be supported for President and Vice- 
President at the next election. 

The Republican electors of the several States, and all other 
voters, without regard to past political differences, who are 
in favor of elevating and dignifying American labor, pro- 
tecting and extending home industries, giving free popular 
education to the masses of the people, securing free suffrage 
and an honest counting of ballots, effectually protecting all 
human rights in every section of our common country; and 
who desire to promote friendly feeling and permanent har- 
mony throughout the land by maintaining a National govern- 
ment pledged to these objects and principles, are cordially 
invited to send from each State four delegat^s-at-large, and 
from each Congressional district two delegates, and for each 
representative-at-large two delegates to the Convention. 

The delegates-at-large shall be chosen by popular State 
Conventions, called on not less than twenty days' published 
notice, and not less than thirty days before the time fixed 
for the meeting of the National Convention. 

The Republicans of the various Congressional districts 
shall have the option of electing their delegates at separate 
popular delegate conventions, called on similar notice, and 
held in the Congressional districts at any time within the 
fifteen days next prior to the meeting of the State conven- 
tions, or by sub-divisions of the State Conventions into Dis- 
trict Conventions; and such delegates shall be chosen in the 

* OMcial Proceedings of the Republican National Convention, etc., 
1884. 



102 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY., 

latter method if not elected previous to the meeting of the 
State Conventions. All district delegates shall be accredited 
by the officers of such District Conventions. 

Two delegates shall be allowed from each Territory and 
from the District of Columbia, similarly ohosen. 

Notices of contest shall be given to the National Com- 
mittee, accompanied by full printed statements of the 
grounds of contests, which shall be made public ; and prefer- 
ence in order of hearing and determining contests shall be 
given by the Convention according to the dates of the recep- 
tion of such notices and statements by the National Com- 
mittee. 

D. M. Sabin, Minnesota, Chairman. 

John A. Martin, Kansas, Secretary. 

The convention of 1884 ^ adopted the rule that ^each 
Congressional district in the United States shall elect 
its delegates to the National Convention in the same 
tvay as the nomination for a member of Congress is 
made in said District. ^^^ With slight modifications this 

^Dallinger, Nominations for Elective Office, 43 is apparently an 
error when he says 1892. 

^"The Republican rule gives increased importance to the congres- 
sional district and tends to make it a more significant factor in 
party organization." The Democratic rule, see infra, page 104, makes 
the State the unit and tends to the retention of larger powers in the 
State conventions. (J. Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 83- 
84.) "The Republican method assures the people in .each congres- 
sional district a voice in the proceedings of the convention." 

A copy of the official call is sent to the State committee of the 
party in each State; thereupon the State committee proceeds to call 
a State convention for the purpose of choosing the four delegates 
from the State at large, and at the same time notifies the party 
committees in the different congressional districts of the State. 
In each congressional district there is usually a congressional dis- 
trict committee, consisting of one or more members from each city 
and town in the district. These in turn proceed to call the con- 
gressional district convention, to choose the two delegates and alter- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 103 

rule has been embodied in each call for the convention 
since that date. An illustration of it is shown in the 
following call for the convention of 1888.^ 

To the Republican Electors of the United States: In ac- 
cordance with usage and obedient to the instructions of the 
Republican National Convention of 1884, a National Con- 
vention of delegated representatives of the Republican 
party will be held at the City of Chicago, 111., on Tues- 
day the 19th of June, 1888, at 12 o'clock noon, for 
the purpose of nominating candidates for President and 
Vice-President to be supported at the next National election 
and for the transaction of such other business as may be 
there presented. Republican electors in the several States, 
and voters without regard to past political affiliations, dif- 
ferences or action, who believe in the American principle of 
a protective tariff for the defence and development of home 
industries, and the elevation of home labor and who would 
reduce the National taxes and prevent the accumulation of 
the surplus in the Treasury in harmony with this principle ; 
who are opposed to the attempt now more openly avowed 
than ever before to establish a policy which would strike 
down American labor to the level of the underpaid and op- 
pressed workers of foreign lands; who favor a system of 
naval and coast defences which will enable the United States 
to conduct its international negotiations with self respect; 
who gratefully cherish the defenders of our country; who 
condemn and resent the continued and unjust exclusion of 
rapidly growing Territories which have an indisputable title 
to admission into the Sisterhood of States ; who are in favor 
of free schools and popular education — a free and honest 

nates from each congressional district. The delegates to both the 
State and district conventions are chosen at caucuses and primaries 
in the different cities and towns. (Dallinger, supra, p. 76.) 

* Official Proceedings of the Republican National Convention, etc., 
1888. 



104 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ^ 

ballot, and a fair count; the protection of every citizen of 
the United States in his legal rights at home and abroad; a 
foreign policy that shall extend our trade and commerce to 
every land and clime, and shall properly support the dignity 
of the Nation, and the promotion of friendly and harmonious 
relations and intercourse between all the States, are cordially 
invited to unite under this call in the formation of a Na- 
tional ticket. Each State will be entitled to four delegates- 
at-large, and for each Representative-at-large two delegates, 
and each Congressional district, each Territory and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia to tv/o delegates. The delegates-at-large 
shall be chosen by popular State conventions called on not 
less than twenty days' published notice, and not less than 
thirty days before the meeting of the National Convention. 
The Congressional district delegates shall be chosen in the 
same manner as the nomination of a member of Congress 
is made in said district. The Territorial delegates shall be 
chosen in the same manner as the nomination of a Delegate 
in Congress is made. The delegates from the District of 
Columbia shall be chosen at a convention constituted of 
members elected in primary district assemblies held under 
the call and direction of the Eepublican Central Committee 
of said District. An alternate delegate for each delegate in 
the National Convention, to act in case of the absence of 
the delegate, shall be elected in the same manner and at the 
same time as the delegate is elected. In addition to their 
regular delegates each of the Territories of Dakota and 
Washington are [sic'] authorized by vote of this committee to 
choose four contingent delegates, the admission of said 
contingent delegates to be determined by the action of the 
next Republican National Convention. All notices of con- 
test must be filed with the National Committee in writing, 
accompanied by printed statements of the grounds of con- 
test, which shall be made public. Preference in the order of 
hearing and determining contests will be given by the con- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 105 

vention in accordance with the dates of filing of such notices 
and statements with the National Committee. 

B. F. Jones, Chairman. 

Samuel Fessenden, Secretary. 

Washington, D. C, Dec. 9, 1887. 
Although the convention of 1888 was not to meet 
until June of that year, the call was issued by the 
national committee in December 1887 in compliance 
with a rule adopted at the convention of 1884, that 
^^such committee shall issue the call for the meeting 
of the National Committee six months at least before 
the time fixed for said meeting." In 1896, this was 
changed to sixty days instead of six months and this 
practice has since prevailed. 

In prescribing the methods of electing delegates, the 
calls of the Democratic and Kepublican parties differ 
fundamentally.^ The Republican party has formu- 
lated the rule mentioned above, definitely stipulating 
that the four delegates-at-large shall be chosen at the 
State convention and the other delegates at congres- 
sional district conventions (special provisions being 
made for the Territories and for the States that pre- 
scribe nomination by direct primaries), but the Demo- 
cratic national organization has limited its authority 
in determining its own composition to the mere act of 
notifying the various States and Territories of the 
number of delegates w^hich they are entitled to send, 
leaving to the States the manner of choosing those 
delegates.^ 

Apportionment of Delegates. In the matter of ap- 
portionment of delegates, there is a wide difference in 

^ C. A. Beard, American Government and Politics, 167. 
^J. Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 83. 



io6 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

practice between State and national conventions. In 
the States, the number of delegates assigned to the dif- 
ferent areas is usually based to a greater or less ex- 
tent upon the party vote for the leading candidates in 
the last preceding State or national election, but in the 
national conventions, the rule, as we have seen, adopted 
by the call of 1860, giving each State a representation on 
the fixed basis of twice as many delegates as it has 
Eepresentatives and Senators in Congress, has been 
followed ever since without change.^ 

It should be noted that according to the fixed rule 
of representation of the States in the national conven- 
tion, relative party strength in the different States is 
not considered at all. 

In Kepublican conventions, the irregularities of the 
present system of apportionment are especially notice- 
able. In the South, the Republican party is so weak 
that in some States there is practically no party or- 
ganization at all. Nevertheless, under the present 
system, each of the Southern States sends twice as 
many delegates to the national convention as it has 
votes in the electoral college. For example, at the con- 
vention of 1892, South Carolina cast the same number 
of votes and therefore had as much weight in selecting 
party candidates as Kansas, although, at the preceding 
presidential election, the Republican candidate received 

^ The Republicans adopted this rule of membership in i860 and it 
has been the rule of both parties since 1872 (Prof. Macy, Chicago 
Record, Monday, March 13th, 1900). 

As to apportionment to congressional districts see supra, pages 97 
and 98. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 107 

onh' 13,736 votes in the former State as against 182,904 
in the latter.^ 

The question of apportionment was discussed as 
early as the convention of 1860 ^ and resulted in re- 
committing the report to the committee on credentials 
and the reduction of the vote of the State of Texas to 
Avhich we have previously referred.^ 

Tliough the question had been occasionally raised 
in subsequent conventions no important attempt to 
change the basis of representation at the national con- 
vention was made until the meeting of the Republican 
national committee at Washington in 1883 to which 
we have already alluded and which resulted in a con- 

^ Again in 1904, Mississippi in which there were only 3,168 Repub- 
lican voters sent 20 delegates to the Republican convention and Michi- 
gan with 216,651 Republican voters sent only 22 delegates. This of 
course helps to prevent each party from becoming sectional in char- 
acter. It is partially offset by the Democratic rule requiring a two- 
thirds vote to nominate. 

When a Republican President in office is a candidate for renomina- 
tion, this evil is aggravated by the fact that the delegations from the 
Southern "pocket boroughs" are made up almost wholly of the fed- 
eral office holders in those States, who have a personal interest in 
securing the renomination of the man to whom they owe their posi- 
tions. The evil, however, can be remedied easily it would seem, by ap- 
portioning the number of delegates to some extent at least with refer- 
ence to the vote cast in the different States for the party candidates 
at the preceding presidential election, a method already in vogue in 
both parties in the choice of delegates to State conventions. 

^ "We are a convention of delegates representing a party having 
constituencies at home. This is not a mass convention * * * 
but a convention of delegates representing a constituency and having 
constituents at home to represent. * * * They have never had 
a Republican party in Maryland. * * * The true poHcy of the 
Republican party is to allow its members a voice but in proportion 
to their numbers." Remarks of David Wilmot; see OMcial Proceed- 
ings of the Republican Convention of 1856, pp. 11 1, et seq. 

* See supra, page 70, footnote No. i. 



io8 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

tinuation of the old practice. 

In 1888, the committee on rules, which had been 
asked to make a report upon the resolution that had 
been referred to them in regard to the apportion- 
ment of delegates to future national conventions, pre- 
sented a majority and minority report. The minority 
report, which was an attempt to suggest a method, 
whereby the number of delegates to future conventions 
should be more nearly proportionate to the Eepublican 
votes cast in the respective States, was rejected and 
the majority report, was adopted reading as follows: 

First : — Each State shall be entitled to four delegates-at- 
large and to two additional delegates-at-large for each rep- 
resentative-at-large if any, elected in such State at the last 
preceding Congressional election. 

Second: — ^Each Territory and the District of Columbia 
shall be entitled to two delegates. 

Third: — Each Congressional district shall be entitled to 
two delegates, 

and this has continued to be the rule with the excep- 
tion of changes in regard to the Territories.^ 

In 1892, the Eepublican national committee again 
took up the matter of apportionment of delegates. At 
a meeting of the committee, held at Washington on 
June 27th, the member of the national committee from 
West Virginia offered the following resolution: 

''Eesolved: That the call for the next national Ee- 
publican convention be upon the following basis: Two 
delegates from each State as delegates-at-large ; one delegate 
from each Congressional District in the United States and 
an additional delegate for each 7000 votes cast in any Eepub- 
lican district at the Presidential election of 1892, and a dele- 

^See infra, page no. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-188 4 109 

gate for the fraction of 7000 votes greater than one half and 
two delegates from each Territory and the District of Co- 
lumbia." 

There was some doubt whether under the rules the 
national committee had any authority to make this 
radical change. Accordingly, a circular letter was sent 
to the leading members of the party in all parts of 
the country, to ascertain the general sentiment of the 
party before definite action was taken by the commit- 
tee. But the Eepublican convention of 1896 met and 
adjourned without any proceeding whatever in regard 
to this important matter, and, though the subject was 
debated in subsequent conventions, no action has ever 
been taken. 

Besides the States, Territories (represented in Con- 
gress by delegates only without a vote) and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia (not represented at all) are em- 
powered to take part in the convention. Their popu- 
lations are not allowed to vote for the President, but in 
order to develop party life and party strength in the 
Territories in anticipation of their coming into the 
Union as States, the organization of the party concedes 
to them and also by courtesy to the District of Co- 
lumbia, to Alaska, Indian Territory, Hawaii, Porto 
Rico and the Philippine Islands, representation at the 
national conventions. 

The Eepublican party has always dealt liberally 
with the Territories, but it was some years, as we have 
seen, before the call specifically assigned any right to 
the Territories and to the District of Columbia to send 
delegates to the national convention. The former re- 
ceived this recognition in 1872 and the latter in 1876. 



no FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY_ 

In the Republican conventions, the territorial dele- 
gates vote as other delegates, but in the Democratic 
conventions the territorial delegates have no voice. 
The number of delegates assigned to the Territories 
has usually varied from convention to convention. 
Thus in 1856, Kansas, then a Territory, was given nine 
votes in the convention. In 1860, Kansas and Ne- 
braska were each given six votes. In 1864 the Terri- 
tories of Nebraska, Colorado and Nevada were allowed 
six votes each but certain Territories and the District 
of Columbia (which had been allowed to vote in 1860, 
though apparently not in 1856) although their delega- 
tions were admitted to the convention with all the 
rights and privileges of delegates were denied the right 
to vote.^ In 1868 and 1876 Colorado was given six 
votes. 

In recent years, the call has specifically allotted to 
each Territory and the District of Columbia a definite 
number of delegates, — two in each of the conventions 
held in the years 1880, 1884, 1888 and 1892,^ with the 

^In 1864 a delegate from New Mexico asked permission to allow 
the delegates from New Mexico to record their votes for President, 
this being the first time that this Territory had sent delegates to a 
Republican convention. Another delegate from New Mexico moved 
that the remaining other organized Territories of the United States 
which had sent delegates to the convention who had not thereto- 
fore been allowed to vote be permitted to record their votes, and it 
was also moved to extend this resolution to the District of Columbia, 
which had not been permitted to vote at this convention. These 
several motions were lost, but the convention carried the resolution 
of a New York delegate that the secretaries might receive any com- 
munications which these various delegations might see fit to make, 
showing their sentiments in favor of the nomination of Lincoln and 
Johnson, in order that those communications might go on the minutes. 

^ The rules adopted in the convention allowed New Mexico six 
delegates but restricted all the other Territories to two. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 m 

authorization in the call of 1888 that Dakota and 
Washington might each send four more additional 
delegates, whose admission to the national convention 
would be contingent upon the action of that body.^ 
In 1896 2 and 1900, the call allotted two delegates with 
a recommendation in that of 1896 that the Territories 
of Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arizona should 
send four more additional delegates, whose admission 
to the national convention the committee would recom- 
mend, and in 1900 there was a similar recommenda- 
tion of six additional delegates for the Territories of 
Arizona, Indian Territory, New Mexico and Oklahoma, 
and four for Alaska. In 1901 the call prescribed two 
for the District of Columbia, six for the Territories of 
Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Hawaii and In- 
dian Territory, and four for Alaska, but in 1908 the 
rule of two for the Territories was resumed. 

In addition to the regular delegates an ''alternate" 
is appointed for each delegate to take the place of such 
delegate in case he is prevented from attending the na- 
tional convention. The alternates are elected at the 
same time and in the same manner as the delegates; 
they sit in the convention immediately behind the dele- 
gates. 

It has been the universal custom, where any of the 
four delegates-at-large is absent, to permit the alter- 

^ The rules adopted in the convention allowed Dakota ten delegates, 
Washington, six, but restricted all the other Territories to two. 

^ The rules adopted in the convention allowed six delegates to 
Arizona, Indian Territory, New Mexico and Oklahoma, four to 
Alaska and two to the District of Columbia, and similarly succeeding 
conventions have adopted specific rules irrespective of the call with 
regard to the number of delegates to which the several Territories 
were to be entitled in the convention. 



112 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

nates in their order on the list to take their places, and 
where one district delegate is absent, if his alternate be 
also absent the second alternate chosen by the same 
constituents is permitted to act. In other words, an 
alternate may vote in the convention although he may 
not be the special alternate of the delegate to whom he 
is attached. 

The Work of the Convention. The Eepublican con- 
vention meets in the summer of the "Presidential 
Year,'' that is to say, of that year in which the people 
will have to choose, on the first Tuesday in November, 
the presidential electors, who according to the letter of 
the Constitution elect the President and Vice-President. 
This has been the custom from the earliest Eepublican 
conventions held, such as the Pittsburg convention of 
1856, which met in June of that year, and the conven- 
tion of 1860, which met in May of that year. 

Long before the meeting of the convention, the 
friends of the leading aspirants proceed to organize in 
each State and endeavor in every way to get as many 
State and district conventions as possible to support 
their favorites' candidacy at the coming national con- 
vention. The newspapers publish the comparative 
standing of the various candidates, giving the returns 
from each State and district convention as they come 
in and revising their estimates, from day to day, until 
the election of delegates in all parts of the country 
has been completed. 

After all the delegates have been chosen, the con- 
test is transferred from the States to the convention 
city, selected by the national committee, as more par- 
ticularly discussed elsewhere herein. The partisans of 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 113 

each of the leading candidates are already in the field. 
They open their own particular headquarters, in one of 
the leading hotels, and endeavor, by means of meet- 
ings of delegates, open-air rallies and processions, to 
arouse all the enthusiasm possible in the interest 
of their favorite candidate. This practice had been 
associated with national conventions from the earliest 
days, although the Whig proceedings are traditionally 
supposed to have observed a certain amount of dignity 
and decorum. The first Eepublican national conven- 
tion, it is true, lacked much of this, because the contest 
which was about to follow seemed but a tentative ef- 
fort in a new and untried cause. ^ At the Eepublican 
convention of 1860, however, we find torchlight proces- 
sions, parades, badges and the usual demonstrations 
in favor of this or that prospective nominee with which 
we to-day are so familiar, and since that time they 
have become regularly identified with conventions and 
political gatherings generally. 

At the delegation headquarters in the various ho- 
tels, "deals" between the leaders of the different 
factions are consummated, votes are traded for promises 
of patronage or for something more tangible and in 
short, all the secret '^wire-pulling" is carried on which, 
frequently, beginning with Chicago in 1860,^ has had 
such an important effect upon the final action of the 
convention. 

In the very first Eepublican convention, there was a 
certain recognition of each ''State delegation" with its 
chairman, as a unit, but, in 1860, this became even 
more definitely established. Thus the delegation is ex- 

^ See supra, page 62. 
- See supra, page 75, 



114 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY- . 

pected to and has, ever since that time, kept together 
during the convention. It usually travels together to 
the place of meeting, takes rooms in the same hotel, 
has recognized headquarters there, sits in a particular 
place allotted to it in the convention hall, around the 
banner of its State, and holds meetings of its members 
during the progress of the convention to decide upon 
the course which it shall take from time to time, and 
has a chairman to direct its part in the convention. 
Some of the more important delegations are accom- 
panied by brass bands and often carry curious symbols 
and transparencies. 

The sittings of the national convention, usually 
held in an enormous building, sometimes constructed 
particularly for the purpose, are public and early at- 
tracted from ten to fifteen thousand spectators. The 
convention of 1856 met at Musical Fund Hall in 
Philadelphia, but, in 1860, it required a wigwam ^ 
specially fitted and constructed for the occasion to ac- 
commodate the thousands which had gathered. In 
1864, the Front Street Theatre in Baltimore was em- 
ployed. In 1868, Crosby's Opera House at Chicago; 
in 1872, the Academy of Music at Philadelphia, the 
largest building of the kind in the City, was required 
to accommodate the gathering; in 1876, the national 
convention met at Exposition Hall, Chicago, a building 
which, as its name implies, had been used for exposi- 
tion purposes and seated about 15,000 persons com- 
fortably. This building was again used in 1880 and 
in 1884. 



^ See supra, page 6o and footnote. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 18S4 nS 

The delegates who had increased from 565 in 1856, 
to 820 in number in 1884 are "a mere drop in the 
ocean of faces." ^ "In the audience are usually gath- 
ered the most active politicians who are not serving 
as delegates, enthusiastic partisans from all over the 
country and interested visitors, attracted by the spec- 
tacular affair.'' They are admitted by tickets which 
are partly sold to cover the expenses of the convention 
and partly distributed to the delegates, who can give 
them to their friends. Sometimes the convention 
passes a special resolution that a certain number of 
tickets be given to such and such an organization or to 
the veterans of the Civil war assembled in the conven- 
tion city. 

All the preliminary arrangements for the convention 
are and have been from earliest times entrusted to 
the national committee — in later years to a particular 
branch thereof known as the executive committee of 
the national committee. A detailed discussion thereof 
is reserved to a later chapter, suffice it to say here that, 
beginning with the local Washington committee (which 
assumed the name of "National Committee"), all of 
the preliminary arrangements, — electing ^ a sergeant-at- 
arms for the convention, superintending the print- 
ing of tickets, organizing a force to act as assistants, 
ushers and pages to seat the people and to maintain 
order during the sessions of the convention, — are taken 
charge of by the members of the national committee. 
Prior to the opening of the convention they have 

*J. Bryce, American Commonwealth, II, 192. 

'The sub-committee of the national committee on the recommenda- 
tion of the executive and finance committee appoints the sergeant- 
at-arms. 



ii6 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY-. 

also arranged many other details of organization, de- 
termined upon the general programme of procedure, 
fixed upon the temporary and permanent chairman 
and a general list of the other temporary officers, 
reached a decision upon the greater part of the con- 
tested seats from which they have made up a tem- 
porary roll of delegates and have determined upon the 
main features of the party platform, — their decision in 
the two latter cases being subject of course to the ap- 
proval of the committees on credentials and resolu- 
tions which are subsequently elected by the convention. 
The National Kepublican convention which met in 
Baltimore December 12th, 1831, and nominated Henry 
Clay for President, was the general prototype for prac- 
tice and procedure of the many other conventions, Re- 
publican and otherwise, which followed. An examina- 
tion of its proceedings ^ shows that in the appointment 
of committees, adoption of rules and course of proce- 
dure it evidences a marked resemblance in general to 
the plain adopted by the Republican national conven- 
tions. 

Procedure in the Convention. The first national 
Republican convention held in Philadelphia, June 17th, 
1856, was opened by the Hon. Edwin D. Morgan of 
New York, with the following words : "Delegates of the 
National Convention, representatives of the heart and 
hope of the Nation, the day and hour appointed for 

^Journal of the National Republican Convention which assembled 
at the City of Baltimore December I2th, 1831, for the nomination 
of candidates to fill the offices of President and Vice-President. Three 
of the four great committees of the present day conventions were ap- 
pointed, also temporary and permanent officers similar to the more 
modern practice. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 117 

this gathering have arrived and in behalf of my as- 
sociates of the National Committee, I now call this as- 
semblage to order." "Thus the body to which pertains 
the supreme authority in a great political organization 
was formally called into being by the action" of the 
national committee, appointed by the antecedent Pitts- 
burg gathering. "It at once entered upon its duties 
and assumed all the powers and privileges belonging 
to such a body. A resolution was adopted providing 
for the appointment of a national committee, consist- 
ing of one member from each State and Territory to 
serve during the ensuing four years. "All our infor- 
mation goes to show that this was in the minds of the 
people the accepted form of organization." ^ 

From the beginning, Kepublican national conven- 
tions have been "called to order," usually about noon 
of the day appointed in the call, by the chairman of the 
national party committee. After the reading of the 
official call, — which in the earlier conventions was done 
by the chairman, but after the first few conventions be- 
came the duty of the secretary of the national com- 
mittee,^ — the proceedings of each day's session (usually 
a forenoon and an afternoon sitting) are opened with 
prayer by some clergyman of local eminence, "the 
susceptibility of various denominations being duly re- 
spected in the selection." ^ This has been the invariable 
rule since the days of the preliminary Pittsburg con- 

* Professor Macy's statement that this was a "self-constituted" na- 
tional committee is apparently an error. Vide, Party Organisation 
and Machinery, 68. 

*Thus in the convention of 1888 the chair announced simply: "The 
Secretary will read the call for the Convention." 
' See the official proceedings of the various Republican national 

conventions. 



ii8 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

vention of 1856 when the Reverend Owen Love joy 
opened the proceedings with prayer. 

Everything in the convention is done according to 
strict rule, with a scrupulous observance of small for- 
malities. "Points of order/ almost too fine for a 
parliament, are taken, argued and decided on by the 
chairman to whom everyone bows.'' 

The proceedings of the previous conventions have 
always served as a model to the succeeding conventions 
( the minutes of the preceding convention . frequently 
lying open before the chairman during the session). 
It was of course, however, some years before prece- 
dents became definitely established and practice settled 
according to rule.^ 

The national committee, either before or after the 
opening prayer and perhaps a short address by its 
chairman, reports either through him or its secretary 
a list of the temporary officers of the convention, con- 
sisting of a temporary chairman, one or two secretaries 
and several (six or eight) assistant secretaries and 



^ See OMcial Proceedings of the Convention of 1868 relative to 
Grant's nomination as a typical example. 

'"The Chairman — What is the further pleasure of the Convention 
with regard to the earliest possible permanent organization? Divers 
committees I find were appointed at the last convention, the proceed- 
ings of which I have before me. I think the next business which 
was transacted four years ago, was the calling of the States for the 
purpose of selecting a committee to report officers for the Con- 
vention. Is it the will of the meeting that the States should be now 
called for that purpose?" (Charles W. Johnson's Proceedings of 
the First Three Republican National Conventions reprinted by order 
of the Republican National Convention of 1892, of which Mr. Johnson 
was secretary.) 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 119 

reading clerks together with a sergeant-at-arms and 
one or more official stenographers. The earliest illus- 
tration of a part of this practice was the appointment 
of John A. King of New York to act as temporary 
chairman ^ at the Pittsburg convention, after Lawrence 
Brainerd of Vermont, one of the signers of the famous 
Washington call of January 17, 1856, and probably the 
chairman of the committee composed of the Repub- 
lican State committee chairmen previously mentioned, 
had read the call. In 1860, the chairman of the national 
committee again named Hon. Robert Emmet for tem- 
porary president. Mr. Morgan put the question to the 
convention, which responded viva voce by a unanimous 
aye. This differed from the custom in later conven- 
tions, in which the rule seems to be that, unless the 
chairman of the national committee recognizes objec- 
tion on the floor of the convention, the temporary 
organization announced by the national committee 
has been adopted by the convention. In the absence 
of objection, the chairman then appoints two delegates 
as a committee to conduct the president pro tern to the 
chair. 

The nomination made by the national committee is 
usually accepted by the convention without contest or 
division. If there is opposition, however, any delegate 
is entitled to place another name before the convention 
and call for a vote, or some one may do so as the 
representative of the minority of the national com- 
mittee. 

The list of temporary officers named by the national 
committee is usually adopted by the convention, as a 

"^ See supra, page 31. 



120 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

matter of course, for the business of the temporary 
organization is largely formal, though the nomination 
of the temporary chairman is often regarded as the 
^^keynote" to the proceedings. But there have been oc- 
casions on which the convention has refused to accept 
the nominees of the national committee. The first of 
these occurred at the eighth Kepublican national con- 
vention at Chicago in 1884. ^ In concluding the short 
opening address, the Hon. Dwight M. Sabin, chairman 
of the national committee, said: 

In conclusion, gentlemen, and at the request of the Na- 
tional Republican Committee, I have to propose to you as 
Temporary Chairman of this Convention, the Hon. Powell 
Clayton of Arkansas. 

Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts then said: 

In accordance with the vote of the majority of the com- 
mittee' and in accordance with precedent, you have presented 
the name of a gentleman as temporary chairman. It is the 
right of this Convention to adopt that suggestion, or to revise 
it, if they deem it to be their duty to do so. With no view 
of introducing any personal contest * * * but simply 
with a view to making a nomination for temporary chairman 
which shall have the best possible effect in strengthening 
the party throughout the country, there are many members 
of this convention, I believe, who feel that a nomination 
which would strengthen the party more could be made than 



*Full details of the convention are set forth in Official Proceedings 
of the Republican National Conventions, 1884-1888 as compiled by 
Charles W. Johnson, secretary of the Republican national convention 
of 1900, and reprinted by authority of the Republican national con- 
vention of the year; All the Republican National Conventions, com- 
piled and edited by Henry H. Smith; Stanwood's History of the 
Presidency; A. K. McClure, Our Presidents and How We Make 
Them; Curtis, The Republican Party, II, 116, et seq. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 121 

that which has been presented by the National Committee. 
I therefore have the honor to move, as it is certainly most 
desirable that we should recognize as you have done, Mr. 
Chairman, the Republicans of the South * * * I move 
you, Mr. Chairman, to substitute the name of the Hon. John 
R. Lynch of Mississippi.^ 

A debate then ensued upon the question as to 
whether the national committee or the convention it- 
self should choose its temporary chairman. The former 
had done so unchallenged since 1856. George William 
Curtis of New York, answering Mr. W. W. Morrow of 
California, w^ho had defended the action of the national 
committee, said: 

This is the supreme council of the Republican party. 
Here at this moment, sir, American citizens professing the 
Republican faith are met to open the great Republican cam- 
paign of 1884 * * * 

Unquestionably it has been the usual practice, as the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Morrow) has said, that the 
nomination of temporary chairman made by the National 
Committee should be ratified by the Convention itself * * * 
When, sir, this Convention, without in the slightest degree 
impugning the purpose or the authority of that committee, 
within its bounds, proceeds to exercise its own unquestion- 
able right to be judged in the first act of the campaign by its 
own unquestionable and responsible action, then, sir, this 
Convention may rightfully, and with perfect respect recon- 
sider the nomination which has been submitted. 

A short discussion followed, during which Theodore 
Roosevelt of New York said : 

Mr. Chairman, it has been said by the distinguished 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Stewart), that it is with- 

^ Official Proceedings, etc., page 6. 



122 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

out precedent to reverse the action of the National Com- 
mittee. "Who has not known numerous instances where the 
action of a State committee has been reversed by the State 
convention? Not one of us but has known such instances. 
Now there are, as I understand it, but two delegates to this 
Convention who have seats on the National Committee ; and I 
hold it to be derogatory to our honor, to our capacity for 
self-government, to say that we must accept the nomination 
of a presiding officer by another body; and that our hands 
are tied, and we dare not reverse its action. 

Now, one word more. I trust that the vote will be taken 
by individual members- and not by States. Let each man 
stand accountable to those whom he represents for his vote. 
Let no man be able to shelter himself behind the shield of 
his State.^ 

After a further discussion, the roll of delegates was 
called and the nominee of the national committee was 
defeated by a vote of 424 against 384 and the nomina- 
tion of Mr. Lynch was then, on motion of the defeated 
candidate, made unanimous.^ 

Throughout the debate not a word was said about 
the real matters involved. There was a sharp line of 
division in the party on the question of whether James 
G. Blaine should be the presidential candidate, Mr. 
Clayton the nominee of the national committee for 
temporary chairman was known to be a supporter of 
Mr. Blaine and "the opposing section of the party 
made an alternate nomination." Mr. Lynch the choice 
of the convention was a colored delegate from Missis- 
sippi. Both sides were in accord "that the South 

'Curtis', The Republican Party, II, 118-119 and OMcial Proceedings 
etc., page 10, 

^Though the committee's candidate was defeated, yet the conven- 
tion after all nominated James G. Blaine. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 123 

should be honored with the position" and the sup- 
porters of Mr. Lynch maintained that their "candidate 
was more fairly a representative of the Party in that" 
section than Mr. Clayton." No direct criticism of the 
committee was made.^ 

In 1888, there was slight opposition also to the 
nomination for temporary chairmanship made by the 
national committee but, as it was only on the part of 
the delegation from Kansas, it was of no serious mo- 
ment. ^ 

T\Tien the temporary officers have been installed, 
the chairman delivers a speech. After the procedure 
in the convention had become somewhat settled, it was 
customary, next in the order of business to offer a 
resolution, which was usually adopted, that the con- 
vention be governed by the rules of the preceding na- 
tional convention or of the House of Representatives, 
"until otherwise ordered." 

The Four Great Committees of the Convention. After 
the adoption of the resolution pertaining to the rules, a 
motion is made and carried for the appointment of the 
four great committees of the convention, viz : a Com- 
mittee on Credentials, a Committee on Permanent Or- 
ganization, a Committee on Rules and a Committee 
on Resolutions, each consisting of one member from 
each State and Territory represented in the convention. 

Remembering, as we must, that the mechanism of 
the Republican party was "patterned or fashioned 
after that of the Whig party," it is not surprising 
to note that the so-called "great committees of the 
convention," which from 1860 onward became fixed 

^ See Official Proceedings, etc., page 22. 

' See OMcial Proceedings, etc., 1888, page 15. 



124 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

and permanent features of the Kepublican national 
conventions are to a degree to be found in the national 
convention of the Whig party ^ ( or National Eepub- 
licans as they were then called), at Baltimore, Decem- 
ber 12th, 1831, to which we have previously referred, 
as the prototype in procedure and practice of all those 
great periodical party assizes. 

At that time the first problem which came before 
the national convention was the matter of credentials, 
rules, platform and permanent organization. Certain 
of the committees to report on these questions were ap- 
pointed by the chairman and others were elected by 
the delegates to the convention. There appears to 
have been no special committee on rules. The selection 
of each committee was made separately at that time, 
all the members of one being chosen or appointed 
first and then those of the other committees in due 
turn. 

Three stages may be noticed in the election or ap- 
pointment of the members of these several committees, 
viz : in the earlier times in Republican national conven- 
tions when they were appointed entirely by the chair- 
man; a second stage when they were elected separately 
by the delegations to the convention, pursuant to 
separate resolution, each delegation selecting one of its 
members for the particular committee; and finally in 
later times, (the existence of the committees having 
become a firmly established fact and their names and 
choice definitely decided upon ) when a resolution would 
be offered somewhat as follows: 

'^Journal of the National Republican Convention which assembled 
in the City of Baltimore, December I2th, 1831, for the nomination of 
candidates to fill the offices of President and Vice-President. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 125 

Resolved: That the roll of the States and Territories 
be now called and the Chairmen of the different delegations 
respond with the names of the members selected to serve on 
the committees on credentials, permanent organization, rules 
and order of business, platform and resolutions.^ 

When the first preliminary Republican convention 
assembled at Pittsburg, February 22nd, 1856, Hon. 
Lawrence Brainerd requested John A. King of New 
York to act as temporary chairman. One of the first 
things Mr. King did after making a short address and 
calling on the Eeverend Owen Love joy for a prayer, 
w^as to appoint a committee on permanent organiza- 
tion, by selecting for it one member from each State 
and Territory represented in the convention. He also 
in the same manner appointed a committee on address 
and resolutions.^ There was no committee on credent- 
ials as the delegates were volunteers and though called 
delegates represented no one but themselves. There was 
no committee on rules and order of business. 

Proceedings were conducted in a very loose man- 
ner, and the actions of the convention w^ere more like 
those of an enthusiastic mass meeting. How^ever, the 
committee on organization through its chairman re- 
ported permanent officers for the convention, for pres- 

^ Proceedings of the 8th Republican National Convention held at 
Chicago J III., lune 3, 4, 5, 6, 1884, printed by order of the convention. 

It is interesting to note that in State conventions these committees 
are usually appointed by the presiding officer of the convention with- 
out consulting the delegates from the various counties or districts. 

Resolutions almost identical in form and substance with the above 
have been presented at every Republican national convention since 
1884. 

* This differed materially from the subsequent practice of having 
each State delegation name its representative on the committee. 



126 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. , 

ident, Francis P. Blair of Maryland, and vice-pres- 
idents, one from every State and Territory present, and 
the committee on address and resolutions through its 
chairman reported a stirring platform or address to 
the country. 

At the first regular national convention of the Ke- 
publican party at Philadelphia in 1856, as we have 
seen, three resolutions were adopted covering the ap- 
pointment of the committees on credentials, rules and 
order of business, platform and permanent organiza- 
tion. As to the committee on permanent organization, 
the resolution proposed "a committee of one from each 
State and Territory selected by the several delegations" 
represented in the convention "to report officers to 
this Convention for its permanent organization" ; as to 
the committee on platform and resolutions that a com- 
mittee chosen in the same manner "prepare a platform 
of principles to be submitted to the people of the 
United States and that all resolutions or papers offered 
in the Convention in relation thereto be referred to 
this committee without debate"; the questions of cre- 
dentials and rules and order of business were covered 
by a resolution referring both duties to one committee ^ 
chosen in the same manner as the other committees 
and instructed to "report the number, names and post- 
office address of each delegate together with rules for 
the government of the Convention." It was also re- 
solved that no ballot be taken for President or Vice- 



^This practice has never been followed since. The committee on 
credentials is always separate from the committee on rules and order 
of business. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 127 

President until after the platform had been reported 
and adopted.^ 

The committee on permanent organization, selected 
pursuant to the resolution quoted above, reported a list 
of officers for the convention consisting of a president, 
Col. Henry S. Lane of Indiana, and a vice-president 
and a secretary from each State and Territory repre- 
sented. This was a departure from the practice at 
the Pittsburg convention, for there only vice-presidents 
had been reported. 

The committee on platform and resolutions re- 
ported a preamble and series of resolutions to con- 
stitute the platform of the convention. 

At the second national Kepublican convention, held 
at Chicago in 1860, separate resolutions were moved 
and carried, first that a committee consisting of one 
delegate from each State and Territory represented at 
the convention be elected by the delegates thereof, who 
should report officers to the convention for a perma- 
nent organization; second, that a committee, similarly 
elected, be formed for the purpose of reporting to the 
convention the number, names and post-office addresses 
of the delegates and acting as a committee on creden- 
tials ; and third that a committee chosen in like manner 
should report rules for the government of this con- 
vention; and fourth that a committee similarly chosen 
be formed to constitute a committee on resolutions. 

The appointment of these committees according to 



^ This has become a permanent practice in all Republican conven- 
tions and is re-enacted at each convention not as a resolution but 
as one of the rules reported at each convention by the committee 
on rules and order of business. 



128 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY -, 

the resolutions finished the first day's work of the 
convention. 

In the convention of 1864, the chairman kept before 
him a copy of the proceedings of the preceding na- 
tional convention and, at his suggestion, the appoint- 
ment of a committee was moved as follows: 

Resolved : That a Committee composed of one delegate 
from each State be appointed for the purpose of receiving a 
list of the delegates and deciding who are entitled to be 
present. 

This was merely a repetition of the motion made in 
1860, but an important amendment was suggested by 
and carried on the motion of Mr. J. H. Lane of Kansas, 
to the effect that the delegates from States in which 
there were contests should not be permitted to par- 
ticipate in the appointment of a committee on cre- 
dentials.^ This principle was embodied either in the 
resolutions or practices merely of several later conven- 
tions ^ until 1888. At the convention of that year the 
chairman stated that the national committee had 
placed certain delegations upon the roll as prima fiacie 
entitled to seats and that unless the convention should 
otherwise determine the chair would hold that for the 
purposes of participation in the temporary organiza- 
tion these delegations alone had the "right to name 
the committees and to vote." A motion to adopt a 
resolution similar to that of 1864 above mentioned 



^At this time Missouri was specially mentioned. 

'For i868 see OMcial Proceedings, etc., i868, pp. lo, 17; for 1872 
see ibid., 1872, p. 125; for 1876, see ibid., 1876, p. 238; for 1880, see 
ibid., 1880, pp. 385, 386; for 1884, see ibid., 1884, p. 27. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 129 

was voted down but the convention carried the follow- 



ing 



.1 



Resolved: That the roll of States and Territories be 
called for the presentation of credentials and for notice of 
contests, and that all such papers be referred withoat state- 
ment or debate to the Committee on Credentials. 

This resolution was never again adopted by any 
convention but the principle has been acquiesced in 
and the list of delegates as prepared by the national 
committee has without question always been accepted 
for tlie purposes of temporary organization. ^ 

The convention of 1864 also carried the resolution of 
Mr. Creswell of Maryland that the States which had re- 
ported the name of a delegate selected for the com- 
mittee on credentials should be called again in order 
that one member might be designated from each State 
to constitute a committee for the permanent organ- 
ization of this convention. 

A similar resolution was carried in order to con- 
stitute a committee on platform and resolutions. 

At this convention also Mr. A. K. McClure of Penn- 
sylvania, chairman of the committee or permanent or- 
ganization, reported a list of officers, which report was 
adopted. It named William Dennison of Ohio for 
president, and one vice-president from each of the 23 
States represented and one secretary also from each 
of these States, following precisely the practice of the 
preceding convention and establishing the precedent 
which has been followed without change ever since. 

^ See Official Proceedings, etc., 1888, p. ZZ - 
* See infra, Chapter IV. 



130 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. ^ 

No committee on rules and order of business had 
been appointed so far at the convention of 1864. This 
had escaped the attention of the delegates, as the follow- 
ing extract from the official proceedings will show : 

The President * * * ''I observe to-day that no Com- 
mittee was appointed on the order of business. Such a Com- 
mittee is indispensable to the end that a rule may be estab- 
lished as to the manner of voting and various other questions 
that will have to be considered. If some gentleman of the 
Convention will be so kind as to submit a motion for the ap- 
pointment of such a Committee, the Chair will take great 
pleasure in submitting that motion to the Convention. 

The motion was made and carried and a committee 
for that purpose, chosen in a manner similar to the 
others, was appointed. 

At the convention of 1868, four separate resolutions 
were made and carried for the appointment, by the 
delegates of each State and Territory present, of one of 
their members to each of the four great committees. 
The same rule without exception was followed at the 
conventions of 1872, 1876 and 1880. 

Although not officially recognized until 1884, it 
had become the custom for the chairmen of the dif- 
ferent State delegations to give to the secretary of the 
convention the names of the four representatives from 
each State, at the same time. In 1884, the resolution 
was carried that "the roll of the States be called 
and the chairmen of the different delegations respond 
with the members of the Committees on Credentials, 
Permanent Organization, Kules and Order of Business 
and Platform and Resolutions." From that time the 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1S84 131 

chairmen of the different delegates have presented all 
the names at one time. 

Generally speaking, the committee on rules has 
little more to do than to adopt the rules and orders of 
the last preceding convention and submit them to the 
convention where they may be amended if it is found 
desirable/ but the work of the committee on credentials 
is, as we shall see, much more complicated and elaborate. 

The appointment of the committees and the ref- 
erence of the various resolutions presented to the ap- 
propriate committees end the regular work of the first 
day's session; the remainder of the time being taken 
up in deciding with regard to the admission of spec- 
tators, in passing resolutions of sympathy for dis- 
tinguished men as the occasion requires, in listening 
to addresses by prominent visitors^ and in dealing 
with other comparatively unimportant matters. 

The Work of the Committee on Credentials. During 
the recess of the convention, the committees continue at 
their work. The committee on credentials is hearing 
the evidence and listening to arguments in the cases of 
contested seats, for this committee must report at the 
next session if possible, the names of the delegates who 
are entitled to sit and vote in the convention. 

After the second session of the convention has been 
called to order by the temporary chairman, the reports 

^ Official Proceedings of the Republican National Convention, held 
at Chicago, June 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th, 1884, page 30. 

^Thus in 1876, Mrs. Sarah Jane Spencer delivered a short address 
on "Woman Suffrage," the first introduction of that weighty problem 
in a Republican national convention. 



132 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

of the various committees are heard. In the conven- 
tion of 1856, no definite rule regarding the order in 
which the reports should be heard was adopted, but, at 
the convention of 1860, the rule was passed that "the 
report of the Committee on Platform and Eesolutions 
shall be acted upon before the convention proceeds to 
ballot for President and Vice-President." In 1864, a rule 
was passed as follows: "The report of the Committee 
on Credentials shall be disposed of before the report 
of the Committee on Platform and Eesolutions is acted 
upon, and the report of the Committee on Platform 
and Eesolutions shall be disposed of before the conven- 
tion proceeds to ballot for candidates for President 
and Vice-President,'' and this has been incorporated 
in the rules adopted at each succeeding Eepublican 
national convention. 

At the second session of the convention, the first 
business in regular order is the report of the com- 
mittee on credentials. Inasmuch as, properly speaking, 
no business can be transacted until the committee on 
credentials has made its report, if that committee is 
not ready when the convention assembles on the morn- 
ing of the second day, the convention either adjourns 
until the following day or, if the report is likely to 
come in at any moment, the time of waiting is occupied 
with the offering of various resolutions by different 
delegates. These resolutions are generally referred 
without debate to the committee on resolutions. Oc- 
casionally ^ the time is devoted to listening to the 
report of the committee on rules if it happens to be 

'^Proceedings of the Republican National Convention Held at Chi- 
cago, etc., i88o, pp. 419, 420. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1S64-1884 133 

ready first, discussion thereof and action thereon being 
deferred until after the adoption of the report of the 
committee on credentials. 

The delay of the committee on credentials in re- 
porting does not postpone the permanent organization 
of the convention. This may be effected with the un- 
derstanding that those may vote on questions relating 
to permanent organization who hold the certificates of 
membership in the convention issued by the secretary 
of the national committee. Whether some of these 
are subsequently displaced by the report of the cre- 
dentials committee may be determined later, but it 
must however be decided before the more important 
business of the convention is transacted.^ 

The usual delay in the report of the committee on 
credentials is due to the large number of contested 
seats. For instance at the Kepublican convention of 
1892, there were twenty-four separate cases and, with 
the exception of the convention of 1856, there have 
never been less than a dozen contests. '^When we con- 
sider that several months are often spent by congres- 
sional committees in the consideration of contested 
election cases it is not to be wondered at that the 
committee of a national convention, intrusted with a 
similar duty, is sometimes two or three days in ar- 



*In 1872, the rules were on motion suspended and the candidate 
for President nominated and ballotted for before the committee on 
platform reported. This was an exceptional case. It was Grant's sec- 
ond nomination. There was apparently no other aspirant in the 
field and Grant was unanimously elected on the first ballot, receiving 
the vote of every delegate from every State and Territory repre- 
sented, a total of 752 votes. 



134 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ■ 

riving at a conclusion in regard to all the cases be- 
fore it."i 

In the matter of the admission of delegates, the 
proceedings of the earlier conventions were most ir- 
regular, but in 1868, several notices of contested dele- 
gations were filed in advance with the national com- 
mittee and in time this practice became universal and 
established.^ At length in 1884, it was formally sanc- 
tioned by a rule to that effect which was embodied in the 
calP and has been repeated in all the following ones. 

All notices of contests between delegations are now 
filed in advance with the national committee, (pur- 
suant to the provisions of the call) which makes up 
the temporary roll and these documents relative to the 
several disputes are then passed on to the committee on 
credentials which holds meetings, hears the contest- 
ing delegations and prepares its report. After both 
sides have had an opportunity to present their claims, 
the committee decides between them. The "regular" 
delegate or delegates, that is, those endorsed by the 
State or district committee usually receive the seats, 
especially if there is but one or two contested cases 
from a State.. "Where, however, there are two full 
delegations from the same State and the contestants 
on each side appear to have a strong case, it is 
usual for the sake of harmony and to avoid open 
rupture to give seats to both delegations, each mem- 
ber being entitled to half a vote. Such contests 
are often exceedingly bitter because the two delegations 

^Dallinger, Nominations to Elective Office, 8i. 

''See as an illustration Official Proceedings, etc., i88o, page 385. 

^ See supra, page 102. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 135 

support rival candidates for the presidency and con- 
sequently the report of the committee on credentials 
frequently has an important bearing" on subsequent 
nominations. The report, which consists of decisions in 
regard to all contested seats together with an official 
list of all the delegates entitled to seats in the conven- 
tion arranged by States, is usually accepted by the con- 
vention without much debate. 

"Occasionally, however, especially in the later Re- 
publican conventions, the committee's report has given 
rise to a heated discussion" and not infrequently on 
division of the committee the recommendation of the 
majority has been rejected. Sometimes these contests 
are very exciting, for the policy of the party on na- 
tional issues and the fate of candidates may be de- 
cided by the admission or rejection of certain delega- 
tions. Perhaps the most exciting contest of this kind 
occurred at the Republican convention which nomi- 
nated Garfield in 1880.^ This discussion of contested 
seats takes up over one hundred pages of the published 
proceedings, and led to the ultimate adoption, as we 
have seen,^ of uniform rules for the election of dele- 
gates. 

The following extracts from the report, presented 
by the committee on credentials to the Republican na- 
tional convention of 1884, may be taken as typical of 
the general form of report, usually offered by the com- 
mittee : 

^Proceedings of the Republican National Convention held at Chi- 
cago, Illinois, June 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th, 1880, pp. 420-523. 

^ Supra, pages 99 and 100. 



136 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

To the President and Members of the National Republican 
Convention — Gentlemen: 

Your Committee on Credentials respectfully report that 
they met for organization on the evening of June 3d instant, 
and selected Hon. Henry Ballard, of Vermont, as their 
Chairman and Edwin C. Nichols, Esq., of the State of Michi- 
gan, as Secretary, and proceeded to the consideration of the 
contests in this body. 

Your committee report that they annex hereto the printed 
roll of membership prepared by the National Committee 
with the changes therein made by your committee. As to 
the several contested cases, your committee report upon each 
as they have considered them, as follows : 

First: In the case of the First District of Alabama, the 
Committee find the sitting members, James E. Slaughter and 
Frank H. Threet and their alternates as on the roll of the 
National Committee entitled to their seats. 

Ninth: In the case of the Nineteenth District of New 
York, the committee recommend that the sitting delegates, 
George Campbell and Hiram Griggs with their alternates, 
Andrew S. Draper and Madison Covert, and the contestants, 
James Lamb and James A. Houck, with their alternates, 
William H. Haskell and Nathan D. Wendell, be each ad- 
mitted to seats in the Convention with one-half a vote to 
each delegate. 

Tenth: In the case of the Twenty-first District of Penn- 
sylvania, the committee find the sitting member [there was 
a contest only as to one member] James E. Sayers with his 
alternate entitled to his seat. 

Eleventh: In the case of the contest of the State of Vir- 
ginia, the committee by a unanimous vote find that the dele- 
gation from said State, headed by Senator William Mahone, 
are each [sic'] and all entitled to their seats in this Conven- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 137 

tion in accordance with the roll of delegates and alternates 
as made np by the National Eepublican Committee. 

Twelfth: In the case of the Fifth District of Kentucky, 
the committee recommend that the sitting members Silas F. 
Miller and John Mason Brown with their alternates, John 
Barrett and August Kahlert, and the contestants, Augustus 
E. Wilson and Michael Minton and their alternates, Hugh 
MulhoUand and George W. Bro\\Ta, be each admitted as dele- 
gates and alternates to this Convention with the right to cast 
one-half a vote each. This recommendation is consented to 
by the sitting members and contestants. 

All of which is respectfully submitted. 

HENRY BALLARD, Chairman. 

Edwin C. Nichols, Secretary. 

To this report is attached a list of the delegates 
and alternates with the post-office addresses of each, 
the States being named in alphabetical order and the 
district delegates and delegates at large being sep- 
arately enumerated. 

The Work of the Committee on Permanent Organ- 
ization. After the report of the committee on cre- 
dentials has been finally disposed of, or if it be found 
necessary to grant the committee on credentials more 
time, the temporary chairman calls for the report of 
the committee on permanent organization. This com- 
mittee reports the long list of permanent officers of the 
convention previously arranged to a greater or less ex- 
tent by the national committee, consisting of a perma- 
nent chairman or president, a list of vice-presidents and 
a corps of secretaries, one from each State and Ter- 
ritory represented. If these nominations are accepted, 
and the report is usually adopted as a matter of 



138 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

course, the temporary chairman appoints a committee 
of two to escort the permanent chairman ^ to the plat- 
form. 

The permanent chairman or president ^ as he is 
usually called, on taking the chair, proceeds to deliver 
a carefully prepared speech congratulating the party, 
urging harmony and wisdom in the party councils, and 
reviewing and defining the issues, — in brief sounding a 
keynote for the approaching campaign. After the de- 
livery of this address he is then sometimes presented 
with a gavel. ^ " 

The Rules and the Work of the Committee on Rules. 
Next, in the order of business, comes the report of the 
committee on rules, which consists of an order of 
business for the convention, together with the rules of 
the preceding convention amended in such ways as the 

^ While the nomination of the temporary chairman may be regarded 
as the "keynote" to the proceedings, "he is not called upon to make 
any important decision from the chair which may affect the plat- 
form of the party or its nominations. The duties of the permanent 
chairman, on the other hand, are most important. Ke is constantly 
called upon to decide points of a highly technical nature. He must 
hold the convention well in hand to prevent it from degenerating 
into an uncontrolled mob. He is often compelled to choose from 
among five or ten speakers trying to get the floor at the same time 
and it is therefore important that he should be master of the rules 
of procedure and capable of prompt and firm decision." 

' Sometimes chairman, sometim.es permanent chairman, president 
or permanent president. It varies in the different conventions. 

^Usually by some State delegation or business concern. See Official 
Proceedings, etc., 1884, p. 44. 

At the national convention of 1888, the delegation from Michigan 
presented to the temporary chairman of the convention a gavel made 
from the wood of the oak under which the Republican party is 
said to have been organized on July 6th, 1854, at Jackson, Michigan. 
See page 16, supra, and note 4. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 I39 

committee may choose to suggest. The rules in prin- 
ciple are those of the House of Representative with 
some modifications. 

It is customary to adopt a set of rules and order of 
business at each convention and, until they have been 
adopted, the convention is governed by the rules of the 
preceding national convention and the rules of the 
House of Representatives. 

In the case of Republican conventions, very impor- 
tant changes have frequently been made in the rules 
from convention to convention. "On the other hand. 
Democratic conventions are traditionally conservative, 
and the same rules are usually adopted with practically 
no change.'' ^ 

Conventions have from earliest days been governed 
by rules of procedure of their own making. At the 
first regularly constituted Republican national conven- 
tion at Philadelphia in June 1856, the joint committee 
on credentials and rules for the government of the 
convention reported the following "Resolutions for the 
government of the proceedings of the Convention" : 

Resolved : That, in voting for a candidate for President, 
the States be called in their order and that the chairman of 
each delegation present the number of votes given to each 
candidate for President by the delegates from his State, each 
State being limited in its votes to three times the number of 
electors to which such State is entitled; Provided that no 
State shall give a larger vote than the number of delegates 

^ It has always been the practice of Democratic conventions to 
adopt the rules of the preceding convention without stating specific- 
ally what those rules are. This practice has led to much confusion 
{Official Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention of 1884, 
p. 9, note.) 



140 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ., 

actually present in the convention ; and Provided that Kansas 
shall be considered for this purpose as a State with the same 
electoral votes as any other State entitled to only one rep- 
resentative in Congress. 

Resolved : That the same rule shall apply to the nomin- 
ation of Vice-President. 

Resolved : That the rules of the House of Representatives 
be adopted so far as they are applicable to this convention. 

The rules adopted by the convention of 1860 have 
been previously detailed.^ They covered under five 
heads the following: — (1) the order in which the 
States and Territories should be called in voting upon 
subjects before the convention, (2) the basis of voting 
in the convention and the method of reporting such 
vote, (3) the adoption of a platform previous to the 
nomination of a presidential and vice-presidential can- 
didates,^ (4) a majority of the whole number of votes 
represented in the convention as necessary to the nomi- 
nation of candidates and (5) the rules of the House 
of Kepresentatives as the governing law of the con- 
vention. 

More numerous and elaborate than the preceding 
were the rules reported by the committee on the order 
of business in 1864 as follows: 

Rule 1. Upon all subjects before the Convention the 
States shall be called in the following order : Maine, New 
Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- 
gan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, California, Oregon, West 
Virginia, Kansas and other States and Territories declared by 
the Convention entitled to representation in the same shall be 

^ See supra, pages 69, 70. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 141 

called in the order in which they are added by the Conven- 
tion. 

Rule 2. Four votes shall be cast by the delegates-at- 
large of each State and each Congressional district shall be 
entitled to two votes. The votes of each delegation shall be 
reported by its chairman. 

Rule 3. The report of the Committee on Credentials shall 
be disposed of before the report of the Committee on Plat- 
form and Resolutions is acted upon and the report of the 
Committee on Platform and Resolutions shall be disposed of 
before the Convention proceeds to ballot for candidates for 
President and Vice-President. 

Rule 4, That when it shall be determined by this Con- 
vention what States and Territories are entitled to represen- 
tation in this Convention together with the number of votes 
to which they may be entitled, a majority of all the votes so 
determined shall be requisite to nominate candidates for 
President and Vice-President. 

Rule 5. When a majority of the delegations from any 
two States shall demand that a vote be recorded, the same 
shall be taken by States, the secretary, calling the roll of 
States in the order heretofore stated. 

Rule 6. In a recorded vote by States the vote of each 
State shall be announced by the chairman of the respective 
delegations and in case the vote of any State shall be divided, 
the chairman shall announce the number of votes cast for 
any candidate or for or against any proposition. 

Rule 7. That when the previous question shall be de- 
manded by a majority of the delegation from any State, 
and the demand seconded by two or more States and the call 
sustained by a majority of the convention, the question shall 
then be proceeded with and disposed of according to the 
rules of the House of Representatives in similar cases. 



142 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ., 

Rule 8. No member shall speak more than once to the 
same question, nor longer than five minutes with [out] the 
unanimous consent of the Convention. 

Eule 9. The rules of the House of Representatives shall 
continue to be the rules of this Convention so far as they are 
applicable and not inconsistent with the foregoing rules. 

The committee on order of business further recom- 
mended and reported the following: 

A National Union Committee shall be appointed to con- 
sist r>f one member from each State, Territory and District 
represented in this Convention. The roll shall be called and 
the delegation from each State, Territory and District shall 
name a person to act as a member of said committee. 

The foregoing set of rules have become with slight 
variations the basis of the rules of all subsequent Ke- 
publican national conventions. We trace now the 
more important variations and changes. 

In 1868, in place of rule 1 of 1864, we find the 
following : 

Rule 1. Upon all subjects before the convention, the 
States shall be called in alphabetical order.^ 

This has not been departed from. 

Another new^ rule, to check stampeding in tjie con- 
vention,^ was adopted in that year, which has likewise 
become a definitely fixed principle, as follows: 

Rule 4. In making the nominations for President and 
Vice-President, in no case shall the calling of the roll be dis- 
pensed with. When it shall appear that any candidate has 
received the majority of the votes cast, the President of the 

^A precedent for this practice existed in the procedure of the Na- 
tional Republican or Whig Convention at Baltimore in 1831. 
^ See infra, page 177. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 143 

Convention shall announce the question to be, "Shall the 
nomination of the candidate be made unanimous"? But if 
no candidate shall have received a majority of the votes, the 
Chair shall direct the vote to be again taken, which shall be 
repeated until some candidate shall have received a majority 
of the votes cast. 

With regard to limiting the time of each speaker in 
the convention, the following rule was adopted in 1868 
which is a slight change from that of the preceding 
convention. 

Rule 8. No member shall speak more than once upon the 
same question, nor longer than five minutes, without the 
unanimous consent of the Convention, except that delegates 
presenting the name of a candidate shall be allowed ten 
minutes to present the name of such candidate. 

The rules adopted in 1872 and 1876 w^ere sub- 
stantially in accord wdtli and similar to the foregoing. 
In 1872, the second rule, in addition to defining the 
representation of the States, expressly allowed each 
Territory two votes. This rule has been re-adopted in 
all subsequent conventions, but frequently changed so 
that certain Territories named therein are granted a 
larger representation than two, as in 1888, when Da- 
kota Territory w^as given ten delgates and Washington 
Territory six. A rule w^as also adopted that after the 
States had been called in alphabetical order upon any 
subject before the convention, the Territories should 
be called next. In 1876, as a further preventative 
of stampeding.^ there was added to the regular provi- 
sion making the calling of the roll in presidential 
nominations compulsory, the requirement that "w^hen 

^ See infra, page 177. 



/ 



144 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY .. 

any State has announced its vote it shall so stand 
until the ballot is announced, unless in case of 
numerical error." Rule 1 with regard to calling the 
roll of States and Territories respectively in alpha- 
betical order was amended by a provision that the Dis- 
trict of Columbia be added as the last on the list and 
an amendment was made to Rule 2 so as to expressly 
give the District of Columbia two votes. 

The rules of the convention of 1880, as reported by 
the committee of which James A. Garfield was chair- 
man, were practically identical with those of the pre- 
ceding convention save for mere verbal changes and a 
re-arrangement into what the committee regarded as a 
more convenient order. 

A change of substance was however made by an 
amendment to the eighth rule which read: 

Rule 8. In a recorded vote by States the vote of each 
State, Territory, and the District of Columbia shall be an- 
nounced by the chairman and in announcing the vote of any 
State, Territory or District of Columbia, the chairman shall 
announce the number of votes cast for any candidate or for or 
against any proposition, but if exception is taken by any dele- 
gate to the correctness of such announcement by the chairman 
of a delegation, the President of the Convention shall direct 
the roll of such delegation to be called and the result shall 
be recorded in accordance with the votes individually given. 

The latter part of this rule which definitely re- 
pudiated the so-called "unit-rule ^ in Republican con- 
ventions merely embodied "the precedents of rulings 
in all former Republican National Conventions * * * 
into a plain unambiguous addition to the rules."^ 

^ See infra, pages 152, et seq. 

^ Speech of General Garfield, OfUcial Proceedings, etc., 1880, p. 419. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 145 

A further rule was adopted requiring all resolu- 
tions relating to the platform to be referred to the 
committee on resolutions without debate. This prac- 
tice likewise had been theretofore embraced in the 
rules only by implication. 

An important amendment was added to the usual 
rule relative to the appointment of the members of the 
national committee as follows: 

Said committee [the National Republican Committee] 
shall within the next twelve months prescribe a method or 
methods for the election of delegates to the next National 
Convention to be held in 1884; announce the same to the 
country and issue a call for that Convention in conformity 
therewith ; Provided, that such methods or rules shall include 
and secure to the several Congressional districts in the 
United States the right to elect their own delegates to the 
National Convention. 

A few changes were made in the rules of the con- 
vention of 1884. A rule was adopted making Cush- 
ing's Manual the guide for general parliamentary law 
to govern the convention in place of the rules of 
the House of Representatives. 

The ten minute restriction in the case of presenta- 
tion of names of candidates was removed, but no mem- 
ber was to be permitted to speak more than once upon 
the same question nor longer than five minutes unless 
by leave of the convention, but the case of the presen- 
tation of names of candidates was excepted. 

Several important additions were made to the rule 
regarding the appointment of a national committee 
as follows: 

Rule 10. A Republican National Committee shall be ap- 



146 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

pointed to consist of one member from each State, Territory 
and the District of Columbia. The roll shall be called and 
the delegation from each State, Territory and the District 
of Columbia shall name through its Chairman a person who 
shall act as a member of such committee; provided that no 
person shall be a member of the committee who is not 
eligible as a member to the Electoral college.^ Said committee 
shall issue the call for the meeting of the National Convene 
tion, six months at least before the time fixed for said meet- 
ing; and each congressional district in the United States 
shall elect its delegates to the National Convention in the 
same way as the nomination of a member of Congress is 
made in said district ; and in the TerritorieSj the delegates to 
the Convention shall be elected in the same way as the nomin- 
ation of a delegate to Congress is made; and said National 
Committee shall prescribe the mode for electing the dele- 
gate for the District of Columbia. An alternate delegate for 
each delegate to the National Convention to act in case of 
the absence of the delegate, shall be elected in the same way 
and at the same time as the delegate is elected. Delegates- 
at-large for each State and their alternates shall be elected by 
State conventions in their respective States. 

^ Under the law passed by Congress in 1883 (Act of Jan. 16, 1883, 
C. 27, 22 U. S. Stat, 403, §§ii, 14) commonly known as the Civil 
Service Act, a provision has been enacted that no person, holding 
a Federal office shall directly or indirectly receive or solicit a con- 
tribution, assessment or subscription of money for any political pur- 
pose whatever from any other person holding such office. 

Under the Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section I, 
no person holding a Federal office can be a member of the Electoral 
College. 

This addition to the usual rule in 1884 was made through the rec- 
ommendation of the national committee itself. It has never been 
adopted at any subsequent convention. See OMcial Proceedings of 
the Republican National Convention held at Chicago lune 3d, 4th, 5th 
and 6th, 1884, at pages 79 and 80. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 147 

An order of business was provided for by Rule 12 
which read: 

Kule 12. The Convention shall proceed in the following 
order of business: Commencing after the reports of the 
Committees on Credentials and Kules: 

First : Report of the Committee on Platform and Resolu- 
tions. 

Second : Presentation of Candidates for President. 

Third: Balloting. 

Fourth : Presentation of Candidates for Vice-President. 

Fifth: Balloting. 

This likewise had not heretofore been embraced in 
the rules of the convention except by implication. 

The only significant change made by the rules of 
the convention of 1888 was the addition of the follow- 
ing: 

Rule 11. The Republican National Committee is au- 
thorized and empowered to select an Executive Committee to 
consist of nine members who may or may not be members of 
the National Committee. 

Instead of Cushing's Manual as the guide of parlia- 
mentary procedure, the rules of the House of Repre- 
sentatives as far as applicable were adopted, returning 
to the custom of all previous Republican national con- 
ventions excepting that of 1881. 

Another change, though not a material one, was in 
a rule excluding from the section of the hall, set apart 
for delegates to the convention, everybody excepting 
the delegates themselves and officers of the convention. 

It is evident from this review that there has been 
remarkably little change in the procedure of Repub- 
lican national conventions during the last fifty years. 



148 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

There are, however, one or two rules, the history of 
which is worthy of special notice. 

The Democratic Convention at Baltimore, in 1832 
adopted certain rules which had a most important bear- 
ing upon the procedure in future national party gather- 
ings. The first of these was the follofwing resolution: 

Resolved : That each State be entitled in the nomination 
to be made of a candidate for the Vice-Presidency/ to a 
number of votes equal to the number to which it will be 
entitled in the electoral college under the new apportion- 
ment, in voting for President and Vice-President; and that 
two-thirds of the whole number of the votes in the conven. 
tion shall be necessary to constitute a choice. 

This was the origin of the famous ^ ^two-thirds" rule 
which has been adopted by each subsequent convention 
of the Democratic party.^ Moreover its operation has 
been confined to that party, a simple majority being 
sufficient to nominate in both Whig and Republican 
conventions. 

In the Republican national convention of 1860, an 
interesting debate arose on a proposition to require a 
vote, equal to a majority of full delegations from all the 
States, to nominate candidates for President and Vice- 
President, which, in view of the number of delegates 
actually in attendance (four hundred sixty-six), would 
have been about equivalent to a two-thirds rule. 

'There was no opposition in the Democratic party to the nomina- 
tion of General Jackson for a second term but the party were not so 
well satisfied with Mr. Calhoun, the Vice-President, so a convention 
was called to nominate a candidate for the second office. 

' The two-thirds rule seems to be obsolete in Democratic State con- 
ventions except those of Tennessee and Texas and to be confined solely 
to national conventions. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 149 

As originally reported to the convention, by the 
committee, Eule 4 read as follows: 

Rule 4. Three hundred and four votes, being a majority 
of the whole number of votes when all the States of the 
Union are represented in this convention, according to the 
rates of representation presented in Eule 2, shall be required 
to nominate the candidates of this convention for the offices 
of President and Vice-President. 

A minority report was presented with the following 
substitute : 

Rule 4. That a majority of the whole number of votes 
represented in this convention according to the votes pre- 
scribed by the second rule shall be required to nominate a 
candidate for President and Vice-President. 

It w^as urged in favor of the majority report that 
in view of the language of the call of the convention, 
all the States of the Union w^ere represented "in 
spirit," and as the chairman of the majority of the 
committee stated it: 

If any State is not represented, whether it be by accident 
or design, we count her as present. She is here in spirit, she 
is here in contemplation of the Call of the convention; and 
we can say she had her rights here, if we can say that our 
candidates were nominated by a vote they would have had 
had she and her sisters been here looking to their duties. 
This was the first view that controlled a majority of the com- 
mittee, — that a precedent might be set here and now that to 
nominate a Republican candidate should require a delegate 
for each elector that it would take to give him a bare 
majority in the electoral college. 

Mr. James of New York, as chairman of the minor- 
ity committee urged in part the following: 



150 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

When this question arose in the committee the report of 
which is now presented, there were bnt seventeen members 
of that committee present, ten being absent and upon the 
sense of that body being called they stood nine to eight, — 
nine for the majority and eight against it. You will thus 
see the difference between the two reports. One is substan- 
tially the "two-thirds rule." If there are 466 votes, 311, I 
believe is two-thirds of that vote, and this rule requires 304. 
Therefore it is only seven short of the two-thirds rule which 
has been adopted by the Democratic party in the management 
of their conventions. I am not aware that any such rule 
was ever adopted by any party in opposition to that party 
and I was not aware that that party ever adopted that rule 
until * * * it became necessary for the interests and 
purposes of slavery that the minority should rule the ma- 
jority. For that reason I am opposed to that rule. I have 
sufficient confidence in the integrity and judgment of this 
convention to trust the nomination of its candidate to the 
majority of the delegates here. 

And Mr. Mann of Pennsylvania further added : 

I come here from a land where we acquiesce in the will 
of the majority on all questions when men are invited to- 
gether to deliberate. I know nowhere in a Republican con- 
vention where men are entitled to vote by proxy. 

The proposition presented by a majority of the com- 
mittee was voted down and the convention decided by 
a vote of 358% to 94%, that only a majority of those 
present should be required to nominate candidates. In 
1864 again a majority of those present was required but 
in 1868 the convention enacted a rule making a "major- 
ity of the votes cast" the required number to nominate 
for President and Vice-President and this has been the 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 151 

rule ^ without exception of all subsequent Republican 
national conventions. 

Another resolution ^ adopted by the Baltimore con- 
vention of 1832, which was of great future significance, 
was as follows: "That in taking the vote the majority 
of the delegates from each State designate the person 
by whom the votes of that State shall be given." This 
was the origin of the famous "unit rule." Although 
several of the State delegations were divided in this 
convention, nevertheless the rule tended (as the result 
of the balloting showed) to bring it about that the 
majority of each delegation decided for whom the en.- 
tire vote of the State should be cast. 

In 1839, the unit rule was adopted by the Whig 
party. At the national convention of that year, a 
resolution was carried that each State delegation 
should vote by itself for the candidates for Presidency 
and Vice-Presidency, and that "the vote of the ma- 



VCarl Becker, "The Unit Rule in National Nominating Conven- 
tions." American Historical Review, Oct., 1899, V, 64. See also 
Stanwood, "Election of 1844," and Niles, vol. Ixvi., p. 211 ff., cited in 
Mr. Becker's article. See also Dallinger, ''Nominations for Elective 
Office in the United States," Harvard Historical Studies, 1897. 

^The two-thirds rule, though in its origin no part of the unit rule 
is really very closely connected with it. "The first Democratic con- 
vention adopted this ruk because it was believed that nominations 
thus made would have greater authority with the people." ("The 
Unit Rule in National Nominating Conventions." C. Becker, Ameri- 
can Historical Review, V, 64.) As the prestige of the National Con- 
vention increased and the two-thirds rule was no longer required 
for this purpose it was retained, as the debates show especially in 
.1844 (Niles LXVI, 211, et seq), to supplement the unit-rule which 
many States were employing, as it lessened the probability that a 
few very large States which were nearly evenly divided on candidates 
and yet enforced the unit rule "might secure a majority for a can- 



152 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

jority of each delegation should be reported as the vote 
of that State/' in a sort of committee of the whole. 
The decision of the committee of the whole was then 
to be reported to the convention.^ 

Either in the form of a rule adopted by the con- 
vention or in the form of instructions by the State con- 
vention, this practice of having a majority of each 
State delegation control the entire vote of the State soon 
became more or less fixed in the procedure of both of 
the leading political parties of that time. 

The unit rule "is one which allows (but does not 
compel) the majority of a State delegation to cast the 
entire vote of the State." It restricts the right of the 
individual delegates to vote according to their pref- 
erences; the State convention, whether it elects only 
the four delegates-at-large or all the delegates, can 
order them to vote in a body at the national conven- 
tion in accordance with the decision of the majority.^ 
For instance, if in the State delegation of seventy-two 
members, instructed to vote as a "unit,'' thirty-seven 
delegates are in favor of a certain candidate, the votes 
of the other thirty-five delegates are placed to his credit 
although they are hostile to him. 

didate whose actual strength would measure only a small minority." 
(Becker, American Historical Review, supra.) 

^ For the rule see Niles, LVII, 249, et seq., cited by Becker, supra. 

The rule is said to have been the culmination of a shrewd scheme 
to defeat Henry Clay. (Von Hoist, Constitutional History of the 
United States, H, 361-369; Benton, Thirty Years' View, H, 204.) 

^ It is really not a rule of the national convention but of the in- 
dividual delegations; — being their manner of voting, their way of 
casting the ballots of the State which they represent ; it concerns 
the national convention only so far as that body sanctions or does 
not sanction the practice on the part of the State delegations. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 i53 

In Democratic conventions, where the convention of 
a State has instructed the delegation to vote as a 
"unit" or where the chairman of the delegation so an- 
nounces it and it is not challenged by a delegate, 
the entire number of votes to which the State is en- 
titled in the convention is cast by the chairman for 
one candidate.^ Otherwise the chairman announces 
the number of votes cast for each candidate in the poll 
of the delegation. It is left to the States concerned 
to adopt or reject the principle as they see fit; but if 
the State does not act in the matter, the delegates may 
vote as individuals.^ 

Like the two-thirds rule, the unit rule applies only 
in the Democratic conventions. The Republicans have 
never used it;^ that is, it was never knowingly toler- 
ated, in the Republican national conventions. Xo minor- 
ity, as we shall see, ever made a protest against the 

^ This is in line with the general Democratic conception of the rep- 
resentation of the State as being of a highly centralized character. 
For a discussion of the advantages of the Republican and Democratic 
practice in this regard, see C. A. Beard's American Government and 
Politics, 171, 172. The reasons for the difference between the Demo- 
cratic and Republican practice are also ably treated in C. Becker, 
"The Unit Rule in National Nominating Conventions," American His- 
torical Review V, 80 et seq. 

^ OMcial Proceedings of the Democratic National Convention of 
1904. 

' Mr. Dallinger is apparently in error {Nominations for Elective 
Office in the United States, pp. 41 and 134) when he says that it 
became fixed in the Republican party, and the first "successful revolt 
against this disregard of the right of the minority occurred in the 
National Convention of the Republican party in 1876" and "was 
abandoned by the Republicans in 1880." This inaccuracy is also 
noted by Mr. Becker in American Historical Review, V, 65, 80. 



.154 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

use of the unit rule iu the Kepublican convention 
which was not sustained. Eepublican state conven- 
tions have repeatedly tried to introduce the rule, but 
the national conventions, beginning with that of 1856, 
on each occasion admitted the right of each individ- 
ual delegate to cast his vote as he chose, under all 
circumstances. 

In the first Republican national convention in 1856, 
the committee on credentials, which also reported rules, 
recommended that in voting for candidates "the chair- 
man of each delegation present the number of votes 
given to each candidate for president by the delegates 
from his state * * *." No question could well 
arise as to the proper interpretation of a rule so 
clearly set forth as this, and as far as the official pro- 
ceedings show none did arise. 

In 1860 different rules were reported and the man- 
ner prescribed for the casting of votes was less definite. 
"Pour votes," so runs the rule, "shall be cast by the 
delegates at large of each state and each congressionaj 
district shall be entitled to two votes. The votes of 
each delegation shall be reported bj its chairman." On 
the first ballot for President under this rule Maj^yland 
voted eleven for Bates. A delegate objected ?on the 
ground that the Maryland delegation had not been in- 
structed to vote for Bates, The chairman of the dele- 
gation, explained that the State convention had at 
ifirst instructed the delegation, but later had clatanged 
the instruction to a mere recommendation. It was on 
the force of this recommendation that he had an- 
nounced the vote as eleven for Bates. The chair t*he© 
ruled that the announcement of the chairman of Ae 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 15S 

delegation must be accepted unless the convention de- 
cided otherwise. He therefore put the question to the 
convention:^ ^^Shall the vote announced by the chair- 
man be received by the convention as the vote of the 
State of Maryland?'' The question was decided in the 
negative; it is not stated by how large a majority. 
In the national convention of 1864 the rule on the 
casting of votes was substantially re-enacted as fol- 
lows : 

Rule 6. In a recorded vote by States, the vote of each 
State shall be announced by the chairman of the respective 
delegations and in case the vote of any State shall be divided, 
the chairman shall announce the number of votes cast for 
any candidate or for or against any proposition. 

The two subsequent conventions made no change 
in the rule for the casting of votes save that in 1872 a 
slight change in phraseology was introduced.^ 

^^The year 1876 marks the appearance of a desire 
among certain Republicans to introduce the Demo- 
cratic custom of disregarding the rights of the minor- 
ity into their party." The Louisiana delegation at its 
meeting just previous to the convention resolved ac- 
cording to State instructions to force a unit vote on 
the delegation.^ In the New York meeting we are told 

^ Official Proceedings, i860, pp. 150- 151. 

^The rule is as follows: Rule 2, Each State shall be entitled to 
double the number of its Senators and Representatives * * * 
according to the recent apportionment. * * * The votes of each 
delegation shall be reported by its chairman. {Official Proceedings, 
1872, p. 144. For 1864 see Official Proceedings, pp. 201-2. For 1868 
see ibid., 1868, p. 43. 

^ New York Tribune, June 14, 1876. 



156 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

that the "attempt of some of the Conkling men to en- 
force a unit vote failed.'' ^ And the Pennsylvania State 
convention gave the following instructions to its dele- 
gates :^ "upon all questions to be brought before or 
arising in the convention to cast the vote as a unit as 
a majority of the delegation may dictate.'' In the 
national convention itself, however, the rule which the 
committee reported was apparently clear in its opposi- 
tion to any unit voting, reading as follows: 

In the record of the votes by States the vote of each State 
* * ^ shall be announced by the Chairman and in case 
the votes * * * shall be divided, the Chairman shall 
announce the number of votes cast for any candidate or for 
or against any proposition. 

Despite this fact, Pennsylvania seemed determined 
to stand by her instructions and her action raised ob- 
jections which lead to a somewhat extended discussion. 
During the progress of the balloting for President, the 
fifty-eight votes of the delegation were cast by that 
State for Hartranf t of Pennsylvania for President ; but 
two delegates desired to vote for Blaine and rose to a 
question of privilege and demanded that their votes 
be thus separately recorded.^ The chairman of the 
convention, Mr. McPherson, sustained the demand of 
the two Pennsylvania delegates under the sixth rule of 
the convention and decided "that it is the right of 

^New York Tribune, June 13, 1876. 
'Ibid., June 14, 1876. 

* Political Manual of 1880; Proceedings of the Republican National 
Convention held at Cincinnati, Ohio, 1876. (Officially reported by 
W. A. Clancey of Washington, D. C, 1876, Concord, N. H., printed 
by the Republican Press Association.) 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 i57 

any and every member equally to vote his sentiments 
in the convention." An appeal was taken from this 
ruling but his decision was sustained by the conven- 
tion by a vote of 395 to 354. ^ 

•The Louisiana delegation evidently receded from 
the position taken in its preliminary meeting, for the 
vote of that State was divided throughout." 

The only serious attempt to introduce unit voting 
into the Republican conventions was made in 1880. 
This was not done because the rule was desirable, but 
because its use would serve the special ends of certain 
political leaders. A desperate effort was made to 
nominate General Grant for a third term. Senator 
Conkling of New York, Senator Cameron of Penn- 
sylvania and Senator Logan of Illinois were lead- 
ing the wing of the Republican party, the "Old 
Guard," that proposed the nomination of General Grant 
and "set themselves to work to give their candidate 
the prestige of an undivided vote from those States." ^ 
As the third term doctrine was very unpopular this 
could only be done by shrewd management. In Penn- 
sylvania and New York, conventions were held early 
and unit instructions were passed with no great diffi- 
culty, but in Illinois it was not so easy. The Grant 
men secured control of the State convention and the 
chairman appointed a committee to report a list of 
delegates to the national convention. The practice 

^Curtis, The Republican Party, II, 58. 

* Becker, American Historical Review, Oct., 1899, V, pp. 78-80. 

See also the very interesting account in A. R. Conkling, Life and 
Letters of Roscoe Conkling, 588-609; also New York Tribune, May 
14, 1880. 



158 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

had been for the delegation from each district in the 
State to appoint its own national delegate; but the 
new plan of a committee left them no choice and re- 
sulted in a solid Grant delegation from Illinois. 
Similar tactics apparently had been used in manj^ of 
the county conventions previously. Besides these States, 
several others also instructed their respective delega- 
tions to vote as a unit for General Grant. 

This started a revolt in many States. Indignation 
meetings were held in Illinois and an anti-Grant dele- 
gation was also sent to the convention.^ Many of the 
delegates from New York and Pennsylvania, as the 
time drew near declared their intention not to abide 
by the instructions which they had received,^ but the 
"leaders continued in their determination to nominate 
General Grant by forcing the unit rule upon the con- 
vention. Their plan was somewhat as follows" : the 
chairman of the national committee, Senator Cam- 
eron, was to call the convention to order and present 
the temporary chairman, whom that committee had 
selected, to the convention. If a Grant man was chosen,, 
he was to rule that all the delegations which were 
under State instructions to vote as a unit, must abide 
by those instructions. If an anti-Grant man wa& 
named (which might be the case since the national 
committee was thought to have a majority opposed to 
Grant ) , someone was to move to substitute the name of 
a Grant man in his stead and in the ballot Senator 
Cameron would enforce the unit rule on all instructed 
States. In this way the supporters of General Grant 

^New York Tribune, May 27 and June 5, 1880. 
"" Ibid., May 5 and 6, 1880. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 159 

hoped to organize the convention, but they never got 
that far. The question was fought out before ever 
reaching the convention, in the preliminary meeting 
of the national committee. It turned out that about 
twenty-nine of the committee were anti-Grant men; 
and fully aware of the scheme to force the unit rule 
on the convention, they presented the following resolu- 
tion to the committee when they met:^ 

Resolved, That the Committee recognize the right of eaclh 
delegate in a Republican National Convention freely to east 
and to have counted his individual vote therein according 
to his own sentiments, and, if he so decide against any unit 
rule or other instructions passed by a State convention; 
which right wa^ conceded without dissent and was exercised 
in the conventions of 1860 and 1868, and was after full 
debate confirmed by the convention of 1876; and has thus 
become a part of the law of Republican Conventions and 
until reversed by a convention itself must remain a govern- 
ing principle. 

*'The adoption of such a resolution would be fatal 
to Senator Cameron's plans and he knew that a 
majority of the committee were in favor of it, because 
the twenty-nine anti-Grant members had held a caucus 
the evening before in which they had denounced the 
practice of unit voting and had agreed to present such 
a resolution to the committee when it came together. 
He therefore resolved upon the bold step of refusing 
to put the question when the resolution was offered 
and declared everyone out of order who tried to ap- 
peal from his decision. His action led to a storm of 
denunciation and the anti-Grant men of the com- 

^ Becker, American Historical Review, V, 78, and New York World, 
June I, 1880, cited by Becker, ibid. 



i6o FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

mittee prepared to remove the Senator from the chair- 
manship; but rather than submit to this he yielded 
and a compromise was effected. The unit rule was not 
enforced in the temporary organization and the Senator 
was permitted to retain his position as chairman. This 
ended the matter. The convention organized quietly, 
with the anti-Grant men in control." ^ Garfield was made 
chairman of the committee on rules and the rule which 
he drew up then with reference to balloting by States, 
and which he claimed but embodied "the precedents 
of rulings in all former Eepublican conventions," ^ has 
been retained by Eepublican conventions ever since. 
"It is a model of precision and makes unit voting im- 
possible except in cases where the minority neglects or 
refuses to make any objection." It is as follows :^ 

Kule 8. In the record of the vote by States, the vote of 
each State * * * shall be announced by the chairman, 
and in case the vote of any State * * * shall be divided, 
the chairman shall announce the number of votes cast for 
any candidate or for or against any proposition ; but if 
exception is taken by any delegate to the correctness of 
such announcement by the chairman of his delegation, the 
president of the convention shall direct the roll of members 
of such delegation to be called, and the result shall be 
recorded in accordance with the votes individually given. 

No attempt was made by either Cameron, Conkling 
or Logan* to cast the votes of their respective States 

'Becker, American Historical Review, V, 78; New York Tribune, 
June I, 1880. 

^Official Proceedings of the Republican National Convention, etc., 
1880, p. 419- 

'Ibid. 

*The Grant delegation from Illinois was unseated by the committee 
on credentials. (OMcial Proceedings, etc., 1880, p. 428.) 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 161 

as a unit, and the votes of those States were divided 
from the first ballot. In fact at Mr. Conkling's own 
suggestion the roll of individual delegates of the States 
of New York was called after the first ballot and the 
divided vote of that State then announced. Of the 
Southern States which had been instructed, Alabama, 
Kentucky and Texas cast divided votes on the first 
ballot.^ Arkansas voted solidly for Grant throughout. 

During the convention apparently the only ques- 
tion having any relation to unit voting was raised by 
the State of Michigan. The vote was on directing the 
committee on rules to report. Mr. Joy stated that 
one of the delegates from Michigan was on the com- 
mittee of credentials, and wished to know if the dele- 
gation had the right to cast his vote in his absence 
knowing how he would vote. But the chair decided 
against even this.^ 

Thus in 1880 the consistent practice of the Repub- 
lican party ^^was crystallized in a rule which secured 
future conventions from all attempts of a similar 
nature" to that made in the convention of 1876. And 
it lias been the constant policy of the Republican party 
ever since (as was again illustrated in 1888) to allow 
each delegate to cast his vote as he pleased, not only as 

'Mr. Becker is apparently in error when he states {American His- 
torical Review, V, 79) "Of the Southern States which were unin- 
structed, Alabama, Kentucky and Texas cast undivided votes on the 
first ballot." The error is two-fold. The delegations of Alabama 
and Texas were instructed. (Vide, Mr. Becker's own article at page 
77 and New York Tribune, May 28, 1880) and their votes were 
divided from the start. (Vide, Official Proceedings of the Repub- 
lican Nation Convention, etc., 1880, pages 567, 568.) 

^ Official Proceedings, etc., 1880, p. 408. 



i62 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

against unit voting, but even as against the instruc- 
tions of his district or State convention. 

The ^^unit-rule," the ^'two-thirds rule" and the 
method of apportionment of delegates without regard to 
relative party strength have been called the three evils 
of the national convention because generally not found 
in State conventions. The reason lies probably in the 
fact that the latter are nearer to the people and "less 
influenced by tradition and precedent than are the na- 
tional party councils." 

The Platform and the Work of the Committee on 
Resolutions. Having been permanently organized and 
the membership having been fixed, the convention then 
proceeds to consider the platform reported by the com- 
mittee on resolutions. 

Declarations of party principles naturally accom- 
panied the nomination of party candidates and so the 
party platform had its origin. As in the case of the 
convention system, the germ of the platform may be 
traced a long way back. In 1800, the congressional 
caucus of the then Kepublican party adopted resolu- 
tions setting forth the principles represented by Jeffer- 
son's candidacy; and later congressional caucuses fol- 
lowed this practice. In 1812, the New York legislative 
caucus which nominated Clinton for the Presidency 
set forth the grounds of opposition to Madison in a 
series of resolutions. During the Jackson movement, 
the adoption of resolutions at meetings and conventions 
became a regular practice. When national party con- 
ventions regularly assumed the function of selecting 
candidates, they could not well avoid making state- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 163 

ments of party principles. Public opinion demanded 
such explanations and the politicians were forced to 
yield. 

The National Kepublican or Whig party which met 
at Baltimore in 1831 and nominated Clay, issued an ap- 
pear to the voters referred to as ^The first platform ever 
adopted by a National Convention." Most of the suc- 
ceeding conventions followed this example, and never, 
since the first national convention of the Republican 
party in 1856, has any party failed to submit to the 
people some declaration of its purpose. 

The Democratic declarations of 1840 may be said 
to be the first that involved the three essential factors 
of a modern platform, — a statement of fundamental 
party principles, policies to be pursued under the pend- 
ing circumstances, and pledges that these principles 
and policies would be carried out. Before this there were 
addresses adopted at public meetings and conventions, 
resolutions approved by ratification meetings, criti- 
cisms or defences of the administration published by 
party leaders, which were generally accepted as the 
basis of party action; but these were not platforms in 
the prevailing modern sense. 

The first so-called platform of the Republican party, 
adopted in the Pittsburg convention of 1856, to 
which we have previously referred,^ differed from all 
subsequent ones in that it concluded with a sort of 
"call" for the Philadelphia convention of the same 
year, in addition to the "Declaration of principles" 

^ "Address of the National Republican Convention to the People 
of the United States," see Journal of the National Republican Con- 
vention, etc., 1831, p. 113. 

^ See supra, page 36 and footnote to that page. 



i64 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

for which unity in political action was sought by the 
new party. 

It differed also in that it bore a long title, viz: 
"Address of the First Republican National Conven- 
tion, held at Pittsburg, Pa., February 22nd, 1856; 
Declarations of Principles and Purposes which we seek 
to promote," and because of its extreme length, for it 
consisted of eleven very closely printed pages. 

The platform, adopted by the convention held at 
Philadelphia in 1856, consisted of a preamble and se- 
ries of resolutions, nine in number, each resolution be- 
ginning with the word "Resolved." 

At this early stage the Republican party, owing to 
the Whig element whose influence was felt, inserted a 
plank in its platform favoring internal improvements, 
but nothing w^as said about the tariff. 

The history of the Republican party is a singular 
commentary upon its first declaration of principles at 
Philadelphia in 1856. There is in that declaration no 
direct reference to slavery in the States, nor to slavery 
in the District of Columbia nor to the rendition of fugi- 
tives from service. 

The platform of 1860 was most carefully and ac- 
curately draW'U. While clearly asserting the funda- 
mental Republican propaganda it at the same time 
aimed to conciliate as wide and varied elements as pos- 
sible. ' It is worth}^ of note that (with the exception of 
the platform of 1876, — the centennial year) this is the 



* It said nothing directly of the Fugitive Slave Law, or the abolition 
of slavery in the District of Columbia. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 165 

only platform which re-affirmed the principles of the 
Declaration of Independence, which the reader will 
doubtless recall were inserted at the suggestion of 
Joshua Giddings, aided b}' the eloquent efforts of George 
William Curtis. The platform began with the words 
"Resolved'' and then followed a series of seventeen dec- 
larations in which it w^as stated the delegates united. 

In 1864, Flenry J. Raymond of New York presented 
on behalf of the committee on resolutions a platform ^ 
consisting of eleven resolutions most of which referred 
to the issues growing out of the war. Some reference 
w^as made, however, to a Pacific railroad, the currency 
and the Monroe Doctrine. This platform had no pre- 
amble and each of its eleven resolutions began with a 
number and with the word "Resolved." 

A short heading prefaced the platform of 1868 ^ as 
follows : 

The National Union Republican Party of the United 
States assembled in National Convention in the City of 
Chicago, on the 21st day of May, 1868. make the following 
declaration of principles. 

The platform itself consisted of fourteen declara- 
tions of principles, each beginning with a number, the 
salient feature being perhaps embodied in number two 
as follows : 

^The full text of the platform may be found in Curtis, I, The 
Republican party, 436, and in Charles W. Johnson's Proceedings of 
the First Three Republican National Conventions. 

^The full text of the platform ma)' be found in Curtis, The Re- 
publican party, I, 502-504, and in Proceedings of the National Union 
Republican Convention held at Chicago, May 20th and 21st, 1868, 
reported by Ely, Burnham and Bartlett, Official reporters of the con- 
vention (Chicago, 1868). 



i66 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ., 

The guarantee by Congress of equal suffrage to all loyal 
men at the South, was demanded by every consideration of 
public safety, of gratitude and of justice, and must be main- 
tained; while the question of suffrage in all the loyal States 
properly belongs to the people in those States. 

The platform of 1872/ unlike the preceding plat- 
forms, for the first time in the history of the Kepub- 
lican party, was not an aggressive battle-cry. As the 
party of achievement, its duty was to preserve what 
had been gained. This was declared in a long and elabo- 
rate platform of nineteen paragraphs each beginning 
with a number. After a short preamble in which the party 
appealed to its history, it ^^announced its position upon 
the questions before the country." It was pledged to pro- 
mote complete liberty and exact equality in the enjoy- 
ment of all civil, political and public rights by appro- 
priate federal and State legislation; it claimed for the 
recent constitutional amendments that they should be 
supported because they were right ; it took strong ground 
in favor of a reform of the Civil Service; it favored 
protection for American industries; it opposed further 
land grants to corporations, approved additional pen- 
sions, and justified Congress and the President in their 
measures for the suppression of violent and treasonable 
organizations in the South. 



^The full text of the platform may be found in Curtis, The Re- 
publican Party, II, 24, and in Proceedings of the National Union Re- 
publican convention held at Philadelphia, June 5th and 6th, 1872, 
which nominated for President and Vice-President, Grant and Wil- 
son, reported by Fancis H. Smith, Official Reporter, and printed by 
Gibson Bros., Printers (Washington, 1872). 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1S64-1884 167 

The declaration of principles, eighteen in number 
(each beginning with a number), which formed the 
platform of 1876, ^ started with a lengthy preamble re- 
affirming the cardinal truths contained in the Declara- 
tion of Independence, suggested by the centennial 
jear.^ It recognized the pacification of the South 
and the protection of all their citizens as a sacred 
duty; the enforcement of the Constitutional amend- 
ments was enjoined and the obligatioi^ of removing any 
just cause of discontent was coupled with that of secur- 
ing to every American citizen complete liberty and ex- 
act equality in the exercise of all civil, political and 
public rights. The platform also favored a more radical 
reform of the Civil Service; the extirpation of poly- 
gamy w^as demanded and an investigation into the 
Chinese question then beginning to distract California, 
was recommended. 

The platform of 1880^ differed in form from all 



^ For the full text of the platform, see Curtis, The Republican party, 
II, 53, and Proceedings of the Republican Convention, held at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, June 14, 15, 16, 1876, resulting in the nomination 
for President and Vice-President of Rutherford B. Hayes and William 
A. Wheeler. (Officially reported by W. A. Clancey, Washington, D. C, 
1876, Concord, N. H., printed by the Republican Press Association.) 

2 This patriotic appeal in the Republican platform of 1876 may also 
be due to the fact that "the Republican party emerged from the 
period of Reconstruction during which the Southern States were 
restored to their former position in the Union as a reorganized party 
fortified by the devotion of an intense patriotism." (Beard, Ameri- 
can Government and Politics, 117.) 

3 For the full text of the platform see Political Manual of 1880, 
edited and compiled by Stiles & Hutchins, 74 et seq.; Curtis, The Re- 
publican Party, II, 78, and Proceedings of the Republican National 



i68 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY -, 

preceding ones. The party was no longer an infant but 
was fully grown and proud of its career, and its 
platform which the committee on resolutions through 
its chairman, Mr. Edwards Pierrepont of New York, 
submitted to the convention, began as follows : "The 
Eepublican party in National Convention assembled, 
at the end of twenty years since the Federal Gov- 
ernment was first committed to its charge, submits 
to the people of the United States this brief re- 
port of its administration." Then follows a list of 
"past performances," among others the suppression 
of the rebellion, the reconstruction of the Union, the 
liberation of four million human beings, the abolition 
of slavery, restoration of the currency to a solid 
basis, improvement of the credit of the nation, the 
vast increase in the railway system, foreign trade and 
exports of this country, the reduction of the public 
debt, etc., and, "upon the record, the Republican party 
asks for the continued confidence and support of the 
people and this Convention submits for their approval 
the following statements of the principles and purposes 
which will continue to guide and inspire its efforts." 
Then follow seven such statements of principles closing 
with a scathing denunciation of the Democratic party. 
The platform of 1884,^ as reported by the chairman 

Convention held at Chicago, III, June 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8, 1880, result- 
ing in the nominations of James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. 
(Officially reported by Eugene Davis and printed at Chicago, III, 1881.) 
'For the full text of the platform, see Curtis, The Republican 
Party, II, 127, and Official Proceedings of the Republican National 
convention held at Chicago, June 3, 4, 5 and 6, 1884, reprinted by au- 
thority of a resolution of the Republican National Convention of 1900 
at Philadelphia, by Charles W. Johnson, Secretary of that convention 
(Minneapohs, Minn , 1903.) 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 169 

of the committee on resolutions, William McKinley 
of Ohio, was the longest and most elaborate as well as 
the most complete of any we have hitherto discussed. 
It began proudly 

1. The Republicans of the United States, in National 
Convention assembled reneAV their allegiance to the principles 
upon which they have triumphed in six successive Presiden- 
tial elections, and congratulate the American people on the 
attainment of so many results in legislation and administra- 
tion by which the Republican party has, after saving the 
Union, done so much to render its institutions just, equal 
and beneficent. 

It contained twenty -two paragraphs each one num- 
bered consecutively and concluded as follows: 

22. We extend to the Republicans of the South, regard- 
less of their former party affiliations, our cordial sympathy, 
and pledge to them our most earnest efforts to promote the 
passage of such legislation as will secure to every citizen, 
of whatever race or color, the full and complete recognition, 
possession and exercise of all civil and political rights. 

This marked the beginning of the long, detailed and 
elaborate platforms which have followed in the Re- 
publican party and was the last year in which each 
paragraph was numbered or, as we have seen in 
many instances, began with the word ^'Resolved." After 
1884, the arrangement of the platform bore either no 
marking of paragraphs at all by way of consecutive 
numbering or resolution, or else was topical as e. g., 
in the platform of 1900, ^^Currency, — We renew," etc.; 
^Trusts, — We recognize," etc.; "The war in South 
America — we commend," etc. 



(70 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY, 

The platform/ then, as we have seen, is an address 
to the people consisting some times of various "planks," 
or a series of resolutions, sometimes of an address 
without division into numbered sections but always 
containing the principles and programme of the party. 
Generally speaking, "it usually contains among other 
things references to the great history of the party in- 
terspersed with the names of party leaders and denun- 
ciations of the policies and tactics of the opposite 
party." It arraigns the opposing party for its errors, 
criticises it for its course of action, joins issue with it 
on prominent policies before the public and gives 
promise as to what the party will do if elected or 
retained in power. In the platforms, the managers 
usually try to conciliate every section of conflicting 
party opinion and frequently produce a document which 
treats with "prudent ambiguity," the questions upon 
which there may be division in the party. The part which 
this conjuring away of the problems of the day has 
played in political contests is significant. Only on ex- 
ceptional occasions, at times of grave crises which dis- 
tracted the party, when there was no opportunity for 
evasion, has the platform met the question of the day 
with a straight-forward answer; but apart from cases 
of this kind, the principal object of the platform is, in 
the present day as formerly, to catch votes by trading 
on the credulity of the electors.^ 

In the Democratic convention at Charleston, in 

^All the national platforms of the Republican party from 1856-1908 
are printed in Tweedy's History of Republican National Conventions. 

^As was aptly said "And thus each mighty party engaging in the 
bout, for fear of being beaten will leave the platform out." (New 
York Times, Oct 3, I907-) 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 171 

1860, a debate on resolutions led to a secession and to 
the break-up of the Democratic party, but of late years 
the adoption of platforms has been almost a matter of 
form, the report of the committee being usually a 
unanimous one. 

The reading of the platform is one of the most 
interesting features of a national convention. The 
resolutions are read by the chairman of the committee, 
who is generally one of the leading men of the party 
and the reading is frequently interrupted by applause. 
Any delegate who objects to a resolution can move to 
strike it out or amend it, but it is generally sustained 
in the shape it has received from the practiced hands 
of the committee. 

The Nomination of Candidates. After the adoption 
of the platform comes the call of the roll of States, ar- 
ranged in alphabetical order from Alabama to Wiscon- 
sin and then of the Territories in like alphabetical ar- 
rangement and lastly the District of Columbia, for the 
presentation of candidates for the presidential nomina- 
tion. 

This was not the case as we have seen in the 
earlier conventions, in which the roll of States was 
called (not merely for the presentation of presidential 
nominees but for all purposes) according to geograph- 
ical location.^ In 1864, there was added to the rule 
specifying this geographical arrangement of roll call, 
the provision that after naming all the States and 
Territories represented in that convention, other States 
and Territories declared by the convention entitled 

^Thus in 1856 the roll began with Maine, New Hampshire, Ver- 
mont and concluded with Minnesota and the District of Columbia. 



172 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ., 

to representation in the same "shall be called in the 
order in which they are added by the convention." 
In 1868, the rule was adopted that the States should 
be called in alphabetical order^ and this has been fol- 
lowed without change. 

A representative of a State, which is thus named, 
thereupon places a candidate in nomination in a speech 
of high flown eloquence. Reference has already been 
made^ to the fact that in the conventions of 1856 and 
1860 no nominating speeches were made and the audi- 
ences were not thrilled with the brilliant rhetoric and 
long-winded orations of later years. In 1861, there was 
a bare resolution that Abraham Lincoln be declared 
the choice of the party. In 1868, Mr. Logan's speech 
nominating Ulysses S. Grant occupied but five lines in 
print, but in 1872, the nominators began to depart 
from the laconic practice of earlier times. Mr. Shelby 
M. Cullom in re-nominating General Grant addressed 
the convention as follows: 

Gentlemen of the Convention: On behalf of the great 
Republican party of Illinois and that of the Union, — in the 
name of liberty, of loyalty- of justice and of law; in the 
interest of economy, of good government, of peace and of 
equal rights for all, — remembering with profound gratitude 
his glorious achievements in the field and his noble states- 
manship as chief magistrate of this Nation, I nominate as 
President of the United States for a second term Ulysses S. 
Grant. 

And when the tumult of applause which greeted 
this had ceased. Governor Stewart L. Woodford of New 
York ascended the platform to second the nomination 

1 See supra, page 142. 

2 See supra, pages 49 and y2)- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 173 

and made a stirring address, concluding witli the 
words : 

In the name of millions of our loyal people, in the name 
of an enfranchised race, in the name of his old comrades, 
the living and the dead, in the name of the dead Secretary 
of War, New York endorses the nomination and asks God's 
blessings on the cause. 

In the convention of 1876, came the famous nomi- 
nating address of Robert Ingersoll in naming James 
G. Blaine, the "plumed knight" and in 1880, Roscoe 
Conkling's equally famous address, nominating Gen- 
eral Grant, and Garfield's address, nominating Gen- 
eral Sherman. From that time on, the custom was 
fixed and, to-day, the nominating speeches are perhaps 
the most stirring (and sometimes the most tedious) 
feature of the convention. 

If a State has no candidate of its own to nominate, 
it may yield its position to another further down the 
line.^ If a State has a "favorite son," however slight 
his chance of securing the nomination, his name is 
likely to be put before the convention; "this custom 
makes it possible for a State delegation to pay a compli- 
ment to some prominent party leader." After the names 
of the candidates have been presented by delegates usu- 
ally from the State of their birth or residence. "State 
delegations, which have no additional candidates of 
their own to present, sometimes authorize one of their 
number to second in a short speech one of the nomi- 
nations already made." Frequently nominations are 

^ In the Republican convention of 1904, when Alabama was called 
upon the chairman of the delegation said : "The State of Alabama re- 
quests the privilege and distinguished honor of yielding its place upon 
the roll to the State of New York" 



174 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

seconded with a view to showing the extent of the candi- 
date's appeal. Thus, in 1872 when Mr. Cullom of Illi- 
nois, the President's own State, nominated Mr. Grant; 
and as Horace Greeley of New York was going to oppose 
him, it was arranged that Stewart L. Woodford, who 
was also from New York, should second Grant's nomi- 
nation. 

The procedure in the convention permits the clos- 
ing of the nominations without calling the full roll of 
States, but if desired the calling of the roll may be 
completed. 

When the presentation of names of candidates is 
concluded, the convention proceeds to the first ballot. 
A peculiar procedure was adopted by the convention of 
1856 in this respect. A resolution was passed as follows : 

Eesolved: That this convention proceed immediately 
to take an informal vote for a candidate for President of 
the United States to be supported by the Republican party of 
the United States. 

This, as we have indicated in a preceding chapter, 
was a substitute for nominations from the floor for 
the names of no candidates had been presented as 
nominees by the delegates. 

The voting then proceeded, and Fremont, receiving 
359 votes as against 190 for Judge McLean, was by 
resolution "unanimously nominated by this convention 
by acclamation as the Kepublican candidate for Pres- 
ident of the United States." 

It was then 

Resolved: That this convention do immediately pro- 
ceed to take a formal vote for a Republican candidate for 
President of the United States. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 175 

On this ballot Fremont received 580 votes as against 
37 for his nearest competitor and it was then resolved 
"that this convention do unanimously nominate John 
C. Fremont of California to be the Republican candi- 
date." 

A similar procedure of informal and formal ballots 
was adopted for the nomination of Vice-President, but, 
since that earliest convention of the Republican party, 
this practice has not been followed and one formal 
ballot after the other is taken until the requisite 
majority is obtained. 

The vote is taken by calling the roll of States and 
Territories. As the name of each State is called by 
the secretary of the convention, the chairman of the 
State delegation rises in his own place and announces 
the vote of his own State ^ for each of the candidates 
named, in case the vote of the delegation is divided. 
If any member of the delegation challenges the vote as 
returned by the chairman, the roll of the delegation 
is called by the secretary of the convention and the 
delegates vote individually. 

^ It proceeds thus, taking the convention of 1868 as an example : 

"The Secretary, — the State of Alabama. 

The Chairman of the Alabama delegation, — Mr. President, Alabama, 
through the Chairman of her delegation, casts eighteen votes for U. S. 
Grant. 

The President, — Alabama casts eighteen votes for Ulysses S. Grant." 

And so on until finally : 

"The Secretary, — The State of Wisconsin. 

The Chairman of the Wisconsin delegation, — Mr. President, Wis- 
consin, the last on the roll of states, adds her voice to that of her 
sister States and gives her sixteen votes for Ulysses S. Grant. 

The President, — Wisconsin gives sixteen votes for Ulysses S. Grant 
and the roll is completed. Gentlemen of the convention, you have 650 
votes. You have given 650 votes for Ulysses S. Grant." 



176 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

If no candidate obtains the requisite majority, which 
in Kepublican conventions has always been a majority 
of the delegates present and voting, the roll is called 
again, in order that individual delegates may have the 
opportunity of changing their votes and the process is 
repeated until some one of the aspirants put forward 
has received the required number of votes. Sometimes a 
considerable number of ballots must be taken before the 
requisite majority is obtained. Thus in 1880, thirty-six 
ballots were taken before James A. Garfield was declared 
duly nominated, the proceedings occupying . two whole 
days. When no aspirant is able to command at the start, 
a majority of the whole convention, each endeavors to ar- 
range a combination, whereby he may gather votes from 
the supporters of other nominees. "The breathing space 
between each ballot and that which follows is used by 
the managers for hurried consultations. * * * One 
balloting follows another until what is called the 
^break' comes. It comes when the weaker factions per- 
ceiving that the men of their first preference cannot 
succeed, transfer their votes to that one among the 
aspirants whom they like best or whose strength they 
see growing. When the faction of one aspirant has set 
the example, others are quick to follow and thus it may 
happen that, after thirty or forty ballots ^ have been 
taken with few changes of strength as between the two 
leading competitors, a single ballot, once the ^break' 
has begun and a column of one or both of these com- 



^ There have been few cases in which the candidate obtained a ma- 
jority at the first ballot, as Cleveland and Harrison in 1892. On the 
other hand in several cases, the number of ballots has been very large ; 
Garfield was nominated in 1880 on the 36th ballot; Pierce in 1852 on 
the 49th and Scott in 1852 on the 53rd ballot. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 i77 

petitors has been ^staggered/ decides the battle. But if 
two well matched rivals have maintained the struggle 
through twenty or thirty ballots, so that the long 
strain has wrought up all minds to unwonted excite- 
ment, the ^break' when it comes, comes with fierce in- 
tensity. The defeat becomes a rout, and battalion 
after battalion goes over to the victors while the van- 
quished ashamed of their candidate, try to conceal 
themselves by throwing away their colors and joining 
in the cheers that acclaim the conqueror. In the pictur- 
esquely technical language of politicians it is a 
stampede."^ 

In 1864, before the final vote was announced, Mis- 
souri which had cast its 22 votes for Ulysses S. Grant, 
changed them to Lincoln, and at the same convention, 
in the ballotting for the Vice-Presidential candidate, 
there was a change of many States even on the first 
ballot before it was announced, so that Andrew John- 
son received 494 votes, as against 26 for all other 
nominees. 

To prevent a recurrence of this practice, the Re- 
publican convention of 1868, as we have seen, adopted 
a rule providing that the roll of States should in no 
case be dispensed with. This makes surprise and 
tunuilt less dangerous..^ With the same object in view, 
the Republican convention of 1876 ruled that no vote 
given on any balloting should be changed before the 
end of that balloting. 

Each ballot is followed with the utmost anxiety by 

^ Bryce, American Commonwealth (abridged edition, 1900), pp. 
475, 476. 
^ Stanwood's History of Presidential Elections, 174, 369, 468. 



178 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

the whole assembly and invariably gives rise to noisy 
demonstrations. In accordance with the custom of 
other parties, the practice in the Eepublican conven- 
tions from the earliest day, when the result of the 
final ballot has been announced has been to make the 
nomination of the candidate unanimous. At the con- 
vention of 1868 this was for the first time made a part 
of the rules themselves, as follows: 

Nominations for President and Vice-President shall be 
made by calling the roll and this shall be repeated until a 
candidate have a majority of the votes cast, when the Pres- 
ident of the Convention shall announce the question to be 
''shall the nomination of the candidate be made unanim- 
ous?" 

Whether embodied in the rules of the convention or 
not, this has been followed in all subsequent con- 
ventions, though frequently in the enthusiasm of the 
moment, the motion is put before the chairman's ques- 
tion is asked. The chairman need not wait for any 
motion but may put the question immediately upon the 
announcement by the secretary.^ 

The practice and procedure for the selection of the 

^Thus at the convention of 1884 at the conclusion of the fourth 
ballot : 

The President: James G. Blaine, of Maine, having received the 
votes of a majority of all the delegates elected to this convention, 
the question now before the convention is, "Shall the nomination of 
Mr. Blaine be made unanimous. On that motion the Chair recognizes 
Mr. Burleigh, of New York. 

Mr. Burleigh, of New York: Mr. President, In behalf of the Pres- 
ident of the United States, and at his request, I move to make the 
nomination of James G. Blaine unanimous. 

The following extract from the proceedings of the convention of 
1880 is significant: 

The President : James A. Garfield of Ohio is nominated for Pres- 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 179 

candidate for Vice-President, which follows immedi- 
ately after the nomination of the candidate for Pres- 
ident has been made, is exactly the same as that fol- 
lowed in nominating a candidate for the presidency. 

After the nominations have been made, usually on 
the third or fourth day of the session, motions are gen- 
erally carried empowering the national committee to 
^x the time and place of the next national convention 
and to perform other services, in case provision for 
such matters has not already been made in the rules. 
Then, after adopting resolutions, providing for tlie 
printing of the proceedings of the convention,^ thank- 
ing the citizens of the place where the convention has 
been held for their hospitality and expressing apprecia- 
tion to the different officers of the convention for their 
services, the national convention adjourns sine die; the 
grand council of the party is over. The convention 

ident of the United States. Shall the nomination be made unanimous? 

Mr. Conkling of New York. Mr. President: James A. Garfield of 
Ohio having received a majority of all the votes cast I rose to move 
that he be unanimously presented as the nominee of the Convention. 
The chair under the rule anticipates my motion. 

^ This is usually in pamphlet form and a copy is sent to each mem- 
ber of the convention. In addition to the proceedings of the conven- 
tion, the pamphlet officially edited and printed by each national con- 
vention, contains : 

(A) A list of the officers of the convention, — chairman of 
the national committee, temporary chairman of the conven- 
tion, permanent chairman, general secretary, sergeant-at-arms, 
etc. 

(B) List of the Republican national committee members. 
(One for each State and Territory in the Union and also from 
the District of Columbia.) 

(C) List of the executive committee of the Republican na- 
national campaign committee of the particular year. 

(D) List of Republican congressional committee members. 



i8o FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

having made its nominations and put forth its plat- 
form, vanishes like '^swans which sing their one song 
and die.'' ^ 

The delegates, however, go forth throughout the 
length and breadth of the land to labor for the success 
of the party at the coming election. Even those who 
are disgruntled with the results of the convention are 
supposed to "wheel into line" and enthusiastically sup- 
port the candidates whom they have hitherto bitterly 
opposed. This does not always happen however; in- 
deed, in 1880, a very pretty question arose in the con- 
vention as to whether the delegates were really bound 
to support the nominees of the convention. 

Koscoe Conkling offered the following resolution:^ 

Resolved: As the sense of this convention that ev^ery 
member of it is bound in honor to support its nominee v/ho- 
ever that nominee may be; and that no man should hold a 
seat here v/ho is not ready to agree. 

This was the first time such a resolution was of- 
fered in a Republican national convention. Under the 
designation of the "Ironclad Pledge" similar resolu- 
tions had been offered in other party conventions at 
various times in the past. The roll of States being 
called on Mr. Conkling's resolution, resulted in 716 

(One from every State and Territory in the Union, either a 
Senator or Representative.) 

(E) List of the chairmen and secretaries of the Republican 
State committee. (A committee from each State and Territory in 
the Union.) 
The proceedings of the earlier conventions contain no reference 
to the national, executive, congressional or State committees. 

^ Bryce, American Commonwealth, II, 54. 

"" Proceedings of the Republican National Convention of 1880, etc., 
p. 410. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 181 

yeas and 13 nays, the latter being cast by West Vir- 
ginia delegates.^ 

Mr. Conkling then moved that the delegates Avho 
had voted ''that they will not abide the action of the 
Convention do not deserve and have forfeited their 
votes in the Convention." This resolution was strongly 
opposed and the position^ taken by the West Virginia 
delegates sustained by numerous speakers among them 
James A. Garfield.^ Mr. Conkling then withdrew the 
resolution before a vote had been taken thereon.* 

The motive underlying the presentation of these 
resolutions by Senator Conkling was his ardent desire 
to have General Grant receive the presidential nomi- 
nation. It was part of the "third term fight" and was 
(togetlier with the attempt previously described to in- 
troduce the unit rule into this convention) one of the 

^ One of the delegates stated the grounds for his opposition thus : 
"Mr. President, I feel as a Republican that there is a principle in 
this question and I will never come into any convention and agree 
beforehand that whatever may be done by that convention it shall 
have my endorsement. * * * i always intend to carry my 
sovereignty under my hat" {Official Proceedings, etc., 1880, p. 413)- 

^ General Garfield said that while he regretted the action of those 
delegates, yet, "when they tell the Convention that by their dissent 
they did not mean that they would not vote for the nominee of 
the Convention but only that they did not think the resolution at this 
time wise, I say they acted right" (Official Proceedings, etc., 1880, p. 
416). 

^ When Mr. Garfield resumed his seat Mr. Conkling wrote on a 
newspaper, "I congratulate you as being the dark horse" and passed 
it to Mr. Garfield (Conkling, Life & Letters of Roscoe Conkling, 
592). 

* Mr. Garfield's remarks affected many delegates and, had a vote 
been taken, Mr. Conkling's resolution would probably have been 
tabled by a large majority (Tweedy, History of Republican National ^ 
Conventions, 179). 



i82 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

moves of tlie New York Senator, as leader of the "Old 
Guard" ^ to secure the presidential nomination for his 
candidate and insure the convention's support for him 
thereafter. 

While General Grant, who was a popular idol 
at the time and had just completed his memorable tour 
around the world had warm and active supporters in 
nearly every State in the Union, who favored his nomi- 
nation for the presidency yet this met with serious op- 
position at the hands of some who were opposed to 
the idea of a third term ^ and others who favored the 
candidacy of James G. Blaine. It was to pledge all 
members of the convention to the^ support of Grant, 
should he succeed in being nominated, that Senator 
Conkling introduced the resolution which at that time 
was so favored that it was referred to in the conven- 
tion as "a resolution which needed no advocacy in a 
Kepublican convention and ought to pass without op- 
position." 

But, alas, for the fickleness of man, — the same reso- 
lution met a totally different fate when offered by Mr. 
S. W. Hawkins of Tennessee four years later at the 
national convention of 1884.^ At this time it was de- 
scribed by Mr. George William Curtis* of New York 
as a "resolution which should never have appeared in 

^A Grant medal was subsequently struck off for the three hundred 
and six members of the "Old Guard" who voted for Grant on the 
36th ballot. 

^It was said in his behalf that the argument should have no force 
for one term (that of President Hayes) would have intervened. 

* OMcial Proceedings of the Republican National Convention held 
at Chicago, June 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th, 1884, page 37, et seq. 

*See infra, page 183. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 183 

a Eepublican convention, as nnwortli}^ to be ratified 
by thi& convention of free men.'' 

There was a sharp line of separation in the Re- 
publican party on the question of James G. Blaine's 
nomination for the presidency and as the followers of 
Grrant had succeeded four years previously in pledging 
the convention to support the candidate it might nomi- 
nate "whoever that nominee" might be, the supporters 
of Blaine attempted the same tactics, but failed. 
Lacking the eloquent support of Mr. Oonkling and 
meeting with severe criticism and condemnation at the 
hands of numerous delegates, the resolution was finally 
withdrawn by its proposer after lengthy and spirited 
discussion. 

Despite the double victory of the anti-Blaine forces 
in selecting a temporary chairman in place of the 
nominee of the national committee (to which we have 
previously alluded^) and in defeating the resolution 
of Mr. Hawkins, the convention nominated Mr. Blaine 
which resulted in a "bolting" of the ticket by the Mug- 
wumps ^ or Independent Republicans under the leader- 
ship of George William Curtis ^ and Carl Schurz, and 
the election of Grover Cleveland. 

At no succeeding Republican convention has an at- 
tempt been made to pledge the convention by a resolu- 
tion of this kind, but the spirit of the resolution may 
be said substantially to pervade every national conven- 
tion. 

The Notification of Candidates. Either before or 

^ See supra, page 122. 

"" The Nation, July 24, 1884. 

* Curtis and his followers had favored George F. Edmunds. 



i84 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

after the making of the nominations, the national con- 
vention appoints a committee or committees to notify 
the candidates of the action of the convention and re- 
ques their acceptance of the nomination and their ap- 
proval of the resolutions adopted.^ Such committee or 
committees usually consist of one delegate from each 
State and Territory, but the method of choosing them 
has been most irregular. While, as we have seen, 
the manner of selecting the various other committees 
of the convention became at an early date definitely 
established, the practice of selecting the so-called "Noti- 
fication Committee" did not become fixed until 1892. 

In 1856, as we have previously noted, the chairman 
appointed a committee of nine delegates with himself 
as the tenth to notify the nominees. In 1860, the com- 
mittee was formed by the president of the convention 
and the chairmen of the respective State and Terri- 
torial delegations. In 1864, on motion of George Will- 
iam Curtis of New York, the committee was selected 
by the respective State and territorial delegations, each 
naming a representative to act thereon. In 1868,^ the 
officers of the convention were, on motion of General 
Daniel E. Sickels of New York, declared to constitute 
a committee to communicate to the candidates their 
nomination. A similar practice was followed in 1872. 
At the three ensuing conventions, the president of the 
convention appointed one delegate from each State and 

^A practice established as early as 1831 see Journal of the Na- 
tional Republican Convention, etc., p. 11, and the committee there 
appointed to notify Henry Clay. 

*For 1868 see Official Proceedings, etc., 1868, p. 109; for 1872, see 
ibid., 1872, p. 207; for 1876, see ibid., 1876, p. 332; for 1888 see ibid., 
1888, p. 234. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 185 

Territory together with himself to constitute this com 
mittee. In 1888, the convention reverted to the prac- 
tice of 1864 and the roll was called and each State 
and Territory named a member for the committee. 

It w^as not until 1892/ that the practice became 
definitely established as follows: two committees on 
notification of candidates were appointed, one to notify 
the presidential candidate and the other to notify the 
vice-presidential candidate, the delegates from the re- 
spective States and Territories each naming one repre- 
sentative for each committee. 

The so-called notification committee, through its 
chairman, in an address, notifies the candidate of his 
selection and submits to him also the declaration of 
principles of which it is expected he will approve. ^ 
The candidate replies informally, accepting the honor 
conferred upon him, with thanks to the committee and 
to the convention and to the great constituency they 
represent. Usually he writes a special formal and 



^Official Proceedings of the Republican National Convention, etc., 
1892, pp. 122, et seq. 

"Thus Senator Lodge as chairman of the notification committee, 
notified President McKinley at Canton, Ohio, of his re-nomination for 
the Presidency by the Republican national convention at Philadelphia, 
June 19th, 1900, as follows : 

"Mr. President, this committee representing every State in the Union 
and the organized Territories of the United States was duly appointed 
to announce to you formally your nomination by the Republican Na- 
tional Convention which met at Philadelphia, June 19th last, as the 
candidate of the Republican party for President of the United States 
for the term beginning March 4th, 1901." Then follows a lengthy 
address closing "Thus announcing to you, Sir, your re-nomination 
as the Republican candidate for the Presidency, we have the honor 
also to submit to you the Declaration of principles made by the 
National Convention, which we trust will receive your approval." 



i86 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

rather lengthy letter of acceptance as well. These let- 
ters of acceptance together with the notification ad- 
dress and the platform are generally printed in the 
political hand-book published during each campaign by 
the national committee.^ 

In course of time, the notification of candidates and 
their reply became an important ceremony and feature 
of the campaign. It has always been the custom for 
the committee in a body to visit the candidate at his 
home and for the chairman, after delivering an ad- 
dress, to present him with a formal letter notifying him 
of his selection. In the earlier times, the address of 
notification was very simple and brief and was followed 
by the presentation of a written communication, advis- 
ing the candidate of the action of the convention and 
the resolutions adopted, and in response the candidate 
would send a short letter of acceptance, thanking the 
convention for the honor conferred. In subsequent 
years the letter of notification became a mere form and 
the chairman, or some particularly representative mail 
on the committee, would deliver a long address. The 
candidate would make a short speech in reply and at 
the same time present the chairman with a brief formal 
letter of acceptance. This, in recent years, has been 
followed by a longer and in many instances very 
elaborate document of acceptance forming, in a way, a 
second platform enunciated by the party's candidate 
as an addition or amendment to the platform adopted 
by the convention itself. 

Thus in 1860, Mr. Ashmun, president of the conven- 
tion and chairman of the notification committee, to- 
gether with the other members of the committee, 

^ See infra, Chapter IV. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 187 

waited upon Mr. Lincoln at his residence in Spring- 
field, Illinois. The chairman's address was very brief, 
and Mr. Lincoln's reply but a few lines in print. ^ A 
written address announcing his nomination was there- 
after sent to Lincoln to which he replied as follows :- 

Springfield, 111., May 23, 1860. 
Hon. George Ashmim, 

President of the Republican National Convention. 

Sir: 

I accept the nomination tendered me by the Convention 
over which you presided and of which I am formally apprised 
in the letter of yourself and others actiag as a Committee 
of the Convention for that purpose. 

The declaration of principles and sentiments which ac- 
companies your letter meets my approval and it shall be my 
care not to violate it, or disregard it in any part. 

Imploring the assistance of Divine Providence and with 
due regard to the views and feelings of all who were repre- 
sented in the Convention, to the rights of all the States and 
Territories and people of the nation, to the inviolability of 
the Constitution and the perpetual union, harmony and pros- 
perity of all, I am most happy to co-operate for the practi- 
cal success of the principles declared by the Convention. 
Your obliged friend and fellow citizen, 

Abraham Lincoln. 

In 1861 a short address was delivered to which 
Lincoln's answer was equally brief, but the letter^ of 
notification (written by George William Curtis) was 
long and elaborate, containing a detailed paraphrase 

^ Raymond, Life, Public Services and State Papers of Abraham Lin- 
coln, 105. 

^Ibid; a facsimile is reprinted in Nicolay and Hay, II, 277. 

^ Raymond, Life Public Services and State Papers of Abraham Lin- 
coln, 561. 



i88 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

of the platform. Lincoln's reply, addressed to "Hon. 
William William Dennison and Others a Committee 
of the National Union Convention/' was but some six- 
teen or eighteen printed lines in length.^ 

Since 1872, the proceedings of the notification com- 
mittee have been printed in the official proceedings of 
the convention as an appendix thereto and also pub- 
lished as a part of the campaign year book. About 
that time, also, the practice became definitely settled 
and established of having a short address together with 
a short formal letter of notification on the part of the 
committee and on the part of the candidate a short 
address followed by a short formal letter of accept- 
ance.^ 

In 1876, the letters of acceptance become somewliat 
more elaborate and Rutherford B. Hayes started the 
custom of a lengthy letter of acceptance with a dis- 
cussion of the party platform, stating his views on the 
currency question and other matters, as did also the 
vice-presidential nominee, William A. Wheeler. 

Already in 1880, we find the letters of acceptance of 
James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur each a little 
over three closely printed pages in length. Mr. Blaine's 
letter of acceptance in 1884 covers ten closely printed 

'"In accepting the nomination, the President observed the same 
wise rule of brevity which he had followed four years before" 
(Nicolay and Hays, IX, 77) ; Raymond, Life, Public Services and 
State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, 563. 

' General Grant in 1872 received the committee at the White House 
and the various members of it congratulated the President and he said 
a few words to each instead of making a formal reply. This had 
never been done before nor has it been followed since. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 189 

pages and is a most careful survey and discussion of 
the political issues of the day coupled with his views 
upon the principal questions. That of the vice-pres- 
idential nominee, General Logan was but a few pages 
shorter than Mr. Blaine. 

In 1892, the practice was inaugurated of hav- 
ing separate committees, one to notify the pres- 
idential nominee and the other to notify the vice- 
presidential nominee. The committee to notify Pres- 
ident Harrison of his nomination for a second term, 
assembled at the Ebbitt House at Washington and then 
headed by its chairman. Governor William McKinley, 
Jr., proceeded to the Executive Mansion, where they 
were met by about 200 invited guests and friends of 
the President. Lengthy speeches were made on both 
sides and a luncheon was served at the Executive Man- 
sion to the committee and all the invited guests. Pres- 
ident Harrison's formal letter of acceptance covers 
twelve closely printed pages and is subdivided, the vari- 
ous divisions dealing under different headings with a 
dozen or more of the political issues of the day such 
as the currency sj^stem, reciprocity, the tariff, etc. 

This established the formal precedent and the pro- 
ceedings and letters of acceptance have become more 
elaborate with each ensuing year. 

Special trains were used to convey the notification 
committee and invited guests to the proceedings, noti- 
fying President McKinle}^ at his home in Canton, Ohio, 
of his nomination in 1900 and McKinley's letter of ac- 
ceptance, 24 closely printed pages in length, is second 
only in length to that of Col. Roosevelt's in 1904, which 
was about 30 closely printed pages and covered some 



190 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

two dozen political issues and questions of the day to 
each of which a special subdivision of the letter of ac- 
ceptance is devoted. 

Verily a change from the early simplicity of the 
days of Lincoln! 



CHAPTER IV 

The Republican National Committee in its Origin 
AND Development 

When the curtain falls on the national convention, 
the first act in the selection of the President and Vice- 
President is at an end; the nominations made by the 
rival parties are submitted to the sovereign voters and 
it is for the latter now to give a decision. 

The presidential campaign, — the culminating point, 
in what an able student of our system describes as our 
^^quadrennial political cycle," — has arrived. 

Hitherto, the contact between party organization 
and the electorate has been very slight, — merely at the 
party primaries.^ Now, ^^the besieging army supplied 
by the American party organization prepares for active 
battle. The national committee of each party, ap- 
pointed every four years at the national convention, 
may, to continue our simile, be regarded as the staff 
of that besieging army, and its chairman, a sort of 
field-marshal." This committee, unique in its powers 

^ "The primary in the various uses of the term serves as an agency 
for nominating local offices, for selecting delegates to party conven- 
tions, for instructing voters, for giving information to party repre- 
sentatives in office as to the views of their supporters and in general 
for expressing the attitude of the great body of party electors toward 
the policy of party leaders. The primary is a name given to the 
original formal act of the voters in setting in motion the machinery 
of government. In its several uses the word always has reference 
to the point of immediate contact of the whole body of electors with 
their government." 

191 



192 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY., 

and duties, holds a position of the highest importance 
and responsibility in the party. "It is the one perma- 
nent national party institution/ which stands for the 
unity of the entire party, since in its composition every 
part of the nation is represented." 

"The permanent national committee is the one 
extra-legal institution capable of being called into 
action for the solution of party questions. The congres- 
sional committee,^ which is also national and of in- 
dependent origin and development, is yet, from the 
standpoint of general authority, distinctly subordinate. 
It is the national committee that embodies the party 
unity." ^ 

One of the earliest national party committees of 
which we have any record was the committee of cor- 
respondence, consisting of one member for each State, 
appointed by the Republican caucus of 1812 to see that 
its nominations were duly respected. In 1831, the Na- 
tional Eepublican or Whig party at its convention in 
Baltimore formed a campaign committee, composed of 
one member from each State selected by the delegates 
to the convention. In fact as early as 1830, it had 
come to be realized that the existence of national. 
State, county, district and local committees of the 
different political parties was conducive to the main- 

^ Unlike many countries of the European continent in which the 
cadres of the parties are formed on the eve of the election and break 
up soon afterwards, their contingents often presenting only floating 
masses, England and the United States have a form of permanent 
party organization. 

^ See infra. 

° Jesse Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 40. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 I93 

tenance of party efficiency.^ The building up of this 
organization was well advanced for the Democratic 
party about the year 1835, for the Whig party not until 
some years later. 

Although the early national conventions, like the 
first State conventions, usually elected a committee of 
correspondence, it was not until the D'emocratic con- 
vention of 1848,^ that a permanent national committee 
consisting of one member from each State was choosen, 
with power to call the next national convention. The 
present Republican party, born after the establishment 
of this precedent and developing on very similar lines 
the method which experience had approved in other 
parties, has had a national committee from the begin- 
ning of its history. 

^^The Republican party was locally organized before 
National agencies were brought into use, ^ and an ac- 
credited National Committee appeared before a con- 
vention was called to place in nomination a candidate 
for the presidency. Among the many local organ- 
izations,^ one under the name of ^The Republican As- 

^ Van Buren put the political party on the basis of a conquering 
army by means of a net work of committees all over the State. 

^The Democratic convention at Baltimore in 1848 "directed the ap- 
pointment of a Central Committee of one member from each State 
to take general charge of the canvass and of the party's interest. This 
was the first National Committee ever organized." (J. A. Woodburn, 
Political Parties and Party Problems in the U. S., 199.) 

^ See supra, page 22. 

* One of the most important and significant facts historians tell us 
connected with the formation of the Republican party is the "spon- 
taneity of the movement and the large number of its independent 
points of contact with the people." (J. Macy, Party Organisation 
and Machinery, 66.) 



194 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. 

sociation of Washington, District of Columbia,' was 
formed, June 19th, 1855. ^ On January 17th, 1856, this 
body issued a circular, urging Republicans to organize 
clubs or associations in all cities, towns and villages 
and giving minute directions as to methods of insuring 
successful cooperation." ^ In this circular appeared the 
following significant passage: "We have therefore to 
request that, should you organize a Republican Associa- 
tion or should there be one already in existence in your 
place, you will urge upon its members the importance 
of at once collecting funds for the purpose of procur- 
ing and disseminating the proper kind of documents 
among the masses, either by your association or by 
our National Committee." "This is probably the 
earliest reference made to a Republican national com- 
mittee," but "the title designates here merely a com- 
mittee of a local association at the capital which as- 
sumed the name." ^ 

On the same day, January 17th, 1856, there was 
also issued from Washington, a call signed by the chair- 
men of the State Republican committees of five States 
inviting the Republicans of the United States to meet 
in informal convention at Pittsburg. February 22nd, 
1856, "for the purpose of perfecting the National Or- 
ganization and providing for a National Delegate Con- 
vention of the Republican party at some subsequent 
day to nominate candidates for the Presidency and 
Vice-Presidency." "The self-appointed body which is- 
sued this call did not name itself a National Com- 

^For details regarding this association see supra, pages 23, et seq. 
^ Jesse Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 66. 
'Ihid, 67. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 19S 

rnittee, though it might have done so with much more 
appropriateness than did the local Washington com- 
mittee," just referred to, "which assumed the name." ^ 

At the informal Pittsburg convention which met 
pursuant to the call above mentioned, the chairman 
appointed a committee on national organization, by 
selecting one member from each State and territorial 
delegation present in the convention and also from the 
District of Columbia. 

This "committee on national organization" was 
merely a temporary committee of the convention, ap- 
pointed to devise plans for and make recommendations 
to the convention in order to help perfect the national 
party machine. 

The committee recommended the holding of a na- 
tional convention for the nomination of President and 
Vice-President at Philadelphia on the 17th of June, 
1856, and suggested also the representation of the 
States at that convention together with a plan for 
the organization of the party throughout the country, 
including the formation of a "National Executive Com- 
mittee". 

This committee on national organization has never 
again appeared in any Republican national conven- 
tion. It was formed to meet the peculiar necessities 
of the time, namely to get the Eepublican party under 
waj^ nationally, and ceased its existence with the 
special exigencies which required its creation. 

The committee on national organization Avas not 
the forerunner of the present national committee as it 

^ Jesse Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, 67. 



196 FORM Al ION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY. _ 

exists in the Republican party. The origin of this 
latter committee is to be found in the "National Ex- 
ecutive Committee/' which was recommended by the 
committee on national organization above mentioned. 
Like the others this committee was appointed by the 
chairman, who selected one member from each State 
and Territory represented in the convention and also 
from the District of Columbia. The committee was au- 
thorized to add to its number one member from each 
State not represented and to fill vacancies. It met at 
Willard's Hotel in Washington ^ on March 27th, 1856, 
and in issuing the formal call for the first national Re- 
publican nominating convention to be held at Philadel- 
phia on June 17th, 1856, it may be regarded as the first 
regular Republican national committee. 

It entered at once upon its duties and took to itself 
large powers and privileges, but these, however, were 
a mere shadow compared with the powers its successors 
were ultimately to assume, and of which its creators and 
members at that time little dreamed. The Hon. Edwin 
D. Morgan as chairman called the Philadelphia conven- 
tion to order as he stated, "in behalf of my associates 
of the national committee." After his opening address 
he put before the convention the name of a temporary 
chairman, and, upon his election appointed a com- 
mittee of two to conduct that gentleman to the chair. 
In the course of the proceedings a resolution was 
adopted providing for the appointment of a national 
committee, consisting of one member from each State 
and Territory represented in the convention to serve 

"See supra, pages 51, 52. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 197 

during the ensuing four years. This Avas apparently 
the usual form of organization.^ 

At the convention of 1856, also, the problem of 
where to hold the next national convention came up 
for discussion and it was finallj' voted ^ to leave, the 
question to be determined by the national committee. 
Thus began a precedent significant in its consequences, 
as we shall see, and followed without exception ever 
since. 

At the convention of 1860 the following resolution 
was passed, together with an amendment that the dele- 
gations should be allowed to select members of the na- 
tional committee who were not members of the con- 
vention : 

Resolved : That the delegations from each State and Terri- 
tory represented in this convention be requested to designate 
and report the name of one individual to serve as a member 
of the national Republican committee for the ensuing four 
years. 

This established the method of forming the Repub- 
lican national committee which has been followed 
ever since, and which has been usually incorporated 
in one of the rules reported as a matter of course at 
each convention by the committee on rules and order 
of business. 

No change in the method of choosing the national 
committee was made in 1861 or 1868, but for reasons 



^ Jesse Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 65, 68. The 
Democratic party had had one for nearly ten years, viz. : since 1848. 



- See supra, pages 51, 52. 



198 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

discussed elsewhere, ^ the committee was called ^^Na- 
tional Union Committee" or "National Executive Com- 
mittee." 2 

In 1880, in addition to the usual rule prescribing 
the method of appointing members of the national 
committee, the committee was directed "within twelve 
months to prescribe a method or methods for the elec- 
tion of delegates to the Republican national conven- 
tion to be held in 1884 and announce the same to the 
country and issue a call for that convention in con- 
formity therewith." 

In 1884 the membership of the national committee 
was restricted by an extraordinary amendment ^ to the 
usual rule, adopted by the convention providing that 
"No person should be a member of the Committee who 
was not eligible as a member to the electoral college," 
thus excluding from membership on the national com- 
mittee any person holding a federal office under the 
Constitution of the United States. 

In 1888, the usual rule relative to the formation of 
the national committee received the following addi- 
tion : 

The Republican National Committee is authorized and 
empowered to select an Executive Committee to consist of 
nine members who may or may not be members of the Na- 
tional Committee. 

This has been substantially re-adopted at all suc- 

^See supra, pages 88, 89. 

'"The Second Birth of the Republican Party," W. A. Dunning, 
American Historical Review, XVI, 56 (Oct., 1910). 

"The purpose of the amendment is described in the footnote to 
page 146, supra. This provision was never again adopted and the 
question has never again been raised in connection with the national 
committee. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 199 

ceeding conventions. Beginning in 1860, it had been 
customary for the national committee to form an 
executive committee from amongst its own member- 
ship, but this was the first time the practice received 
official sanction and the first time that permission was 
granted the national committee to form an executive 
committee from others than its own members. 

A resolution was also adopted at the convention 
of 1884, as follows: 

That ill case of a vacancy occurring in the Republican 
National Committee, such vacancy may be filled by the 
State Central Committee of the State, Territory or District 
thus left unrepresented. 

This has become the regular practice. 

As we have seen, under the rule adopted in 1860 
(and reported at each succeeding convention, with the 
additions and changes noted above), "usually on the 
second or third day after the adoption of the platform 
and before the nominations of the candidates, the per- 
manent chairman of the national convention, declares 
the next order of business to be the calling of the roll 
of the States and Territories for the presentation of the 
names of persons chosen to serve on the national com- 
mittee" for the next four years. Such is the rule, but 
the practice is otherwise, for the secretary of the con- 
vention usually has in advance a full report of the 
names of the members chosen from each State and Ter- 
ritory and when this report is read to the conven- 
tion it is accepted as it stands, unless objections are 
made from the floor. Little, if any, control over the 
choice of the members of the national committee is 
therefore exercised by the national convention as such. 



200 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

"This is left to each State and is frequently determined 
by a caucus among the party leaders in advance." 

Perhaps there is no element of national party ma- 
chinery which has developed along lines more unex- 
pected than the national committee. Little did the 
chairman of the Pittsburg convention think when he 
appointed a '^National Executive Committee" that he 
was making one of the most important precedents 
which that first Eepublican national convention set, 
and that he was establishing a party organ which 
would arrogate to itself at times almost" unlimited 
powers and supreme control of the national party 
machinery. 

Historically speaking, the committee has grown in 
consequence and power with the growth of the party. 
"As the party has become the regular and accepted or- 
gan of political expression, the national committee 
chosen in orderly manner and surrounded by all the 
sanctions of an established institution, intrenched in 
the habits and affections of a great people, has sup- 
planted the irregular and self-appointed agencies of the 
earlier days and assumed prestige and authority," ^ 
undreamed of at the time of its creation. 

This development of the national committee in im- 
portance is well reflected in the official proceedings 
and contemporary records and magazines. 

Of the first national committee appointed by the 
chairman of the informal Pittsburg convention in 1856, 
an examination of the contemporary records and of- 
ficial proceedings reveals almost nothing. It consisted 
of about twenty-two members with Edwin D. Morgan, 

^J, Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, 65. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 201 

who subsequently became Governor of New York, as 
chairman. The convention having itself voted to hold 
a national nominating convention at Philadelphia and 
fixed the date and method of representation, there was 
nothing left for the national executive committee to do 
but to draw up the wording of the call and issue it, 
which as we have seen the committee did.^ But 
four lines are devoted in the official proceedings of 
the convention to the work of this first national com- 
mittee ^ and the contemporary press and magazines 
paid practically no attention to its doings. 

The Philadelphia convention selected a national 
committee of twenty-five members. All that the Of- 
ficial Proceedings'^ tell us as to the operations of this 
committee is that it met at the Girard House in Phila- 
delphia after the termination of the convention and 
chose Edwin D. Morgan, chairman, and N. B. Judd, 
secretary. Thanks to the resolution ^ of Judge Hoar 
of Massachusetts, the convention left the naming of 
the time and place for holding the next national con- 
vention, four years hence, to the national committee; 
and nothing being said about the method of represen- 
tation, the national committee took it upon itself to 
determine that question. 

As to the work of the national committe, whether it 
labored arduously to secure the election of Fremont, 
little, if anything, is known. The official proceedings 

^ See supra, page 37. 

^ Official proceedings of the first three Republican National Con- 
ventions, etc., p. 14. 

* Ihid., p. 42. 

* See supra, page 51. 



202 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

are entirely silent on this subject and contemporary 
magazines and newspapers contain practically nothing, 
save the names of the committee, together with a brief 
description of its personnel. It did, however, issue 
the call for the convention of 1860 and the chairman, 
Mr. Morgan, again called the convention together and 
named the temporary president, accounting for his 
action at the same time as follows: ^^Usage has made 
it my duty to take the preliminary steps to organize 
the convention." ^ 

In the marvelous campaign which was waged for 
Lincoln's election, it is doubtful whether the national 
committee played any important part, as Lincoln had 
campaign managers^ and a committee of his own. 

The convention of 1860 selected a national com- 
mittee of twenty-three members which issued the call 
for the convention of 1864. Owing to the exigencies of 
the times, in addition to fixing the date and place for 
holding the convention, it assumed the responsibilitj? 
of suppressing the party name. ^ The official proceed- 
ings of the convention give us no information as to 
what the national committee or its chairman did. 
Beyond a list of the names attached to the official call, 
no mention is made of the committee or its personnel, 
save the statement that Mr. Morgan as chairman called 
the convention to order and in the behalf of the na- 
tional committee proposed a temporary president of the 

^ Official proceedings of the first three Republican National Con- 
ventions, etc., p. 84. 

^ See supra, page 75. 

^ See supra, pages 88, 89. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 203 

convention and a committee of two to escort him to the 
chair. Temporary secretaries were not at this time 
named by the national committee, but were selected 
upon motion of a regular delegate. 

At a meeting held in Chicago, May 18, 1860, the 
national committee chosen at this convention, organ- 
ized by selecting Hon. Edwin D. Morgan of New York 
as chairman and George F. Fogg of New Hampshire, 
as secretary. Subsequently, an executive committee 
was chosen by the committee, consisting of seven of its 
members. This was the first executive committee of 
the national committee of which we have any record 
and it became the fixed practice for the national com- 
mittee to organize by forming an executive committee 
from its own members. This custom, as we have seen, 
received official sanction in 1888, after which time also, 
many of the members of the executive committee were 
chosen outside of the national committee. 

The official proceedings of 1864 give a list of the 
members selected for the new national committee for 
the next four years and make no further mention of 
the committee, its officers and doings. The committee 
selected as its headquarters the City of Chicago, and 
chose Henry J'. Eaymond of New York as its chairman 
and John D. De Frees as secretary. The selection of 
Mr. Raymond ^ was made not with a view of having a 
campaign manager and friend of the presidential can- 
didate at the committee's head, as we shall see subse- 
quently became the custom, but to honor a representa- 

^ Editor of the New York Times; the platforms of 1856 and 1864 
were the work of Mr. Raymond. His services in the political cam- 
paign of 1864 contributed greatly to the success of the Republican 
party (Maverick, Raymond and New York Journalism, 168). 



204 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

tive of the party actively associated with the national 
organization from its birth. Mr. Eaymond's resigna- 
tion prior to the convention 1868 necessitated the 
selection of a new chairman and the committee then 
elected Marcus L. Ward of New Jersey and he accord- 
ingly signed the call and opened the proceedings of 
that gathering. 

The proceedings of the national convention of 1868 
contain a list of the members selected for the next 
national committee, which had now grown to the 
number of forty-two. Just before the convention ad- 
journed, the president announced that the committee 
would meet at eight-thirty that evening at the Tremont 
House in Chicago to organize. The proceedings further 
enlighten us as to the method of this organization, which 
was as follows. William Claflin was chosen chairman, 
and W^illiam E. Chandler, secretary. Four head- 
quarters were established for the national committee 
and four separate executive committees appointed. The 
so-called central executive committee, with headquarters 
at New York City, was composed of the chairman, Mr. 
Claflin, and six members, among whom were Horace 
Greeley and Marsh Giddings. In addition there was 
an executive committee for the West with headquarters 
at Chicago and one for the South, with headquarters 
at Atlanta, Georgia, each consisting of three members. 
There Avas also an executive committee for the Pacific 
Coast, with headquarters at San Francisco, California, 
consisting of two members. 

The national committee chosen by the convention 
of 1872, consisting of forty-seven men, organized by the 
election of Governor Edwin D. Morgan as chairman, 
and William E. Chandler as secretary, and formed an 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 205 

executive committee of sixteen of its members, with the 
headquarters of the committee at the Fifth Avenue 
Hotel, New York City. 

The selection of Mr. Claflin in 1868 and of Mr. 
Morgan in 1872 was made after consultation with 
General Grant and the practice of consulting the pres- 
idential candidate as to whom the committee should 
select as its chairman may be said to date from that 
time; but in neither case was the selection made with 
a view of having a campaign manager or special friend 
of the presidential candidate or a man of wealth or 
influence. The selection was based on being a worthy 
representative of the national party. 

Beginning with the national convention of 1872, 
the official proceedings take notice of a ^'Kepublican 
Congressional Committee" ^ and likewise print a full 
record of the chairmen and secretaries of the Repub- 
lican State committees, at that time thirty-seven in 
number. The proceedings of nearly all succeeding con- 
ventions record the full list of members of the Repub- 
lican national committee for the specific year and its 
organization and treat similarly of the Republican 
congressional committee and the several State com- 

In 1876, the national committee at a meeting held 
after the convention adjourned elected Zachariah 
Chandler as chairman and William E. Chandler as 
secretary and also selected an executive committee of 
eighteen members which latter had a chairman and 
secretary of its own. The committee established two 
headquarters, the Eastern one at New York City, and 
the Western at Chicago.^ 

^ See infra. 

^ Frequently the location of headquarters has been fixed with a 



206 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ^ 

Unlike the national committee chairmen to whom 
we have hitherto referred, ^^Zack and Bill Chandler'^ 
were chosen for their ability as political compaigners 
and they "made the fight in '76". They were chosen 
by the committee after careful consultation with the 
presidential candidate and it was directly through 
Zachariah Chandler's efforts in securing the electoral 
votes of Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina, that 
Hayes was elected. 

After President Hayes' election William. Chandler 
resigned and Col. T. B. Keogh was elected secretary. 
Zachariah Chandler died before the convention of 1880, 
and the call for that year was accordingly signed by 
Mr. J. D. Cameron, whom the committee selected to 
succeed Mr. Chandler. 

At the convention of 1880, Mr. Cameron proposed 
in addition to the names of a temporary chairman and 
committee of two, to escort him to the chair, also, the 
names for the other temporary officers of the conven- 
tion, to wit, secretaries, reading clerks and a stenog- 
rapher. Until that date, the minor officers of the con- 
vention had been nominated from the floor or other- 
wise chosen by the comvention. 

The national committee of 1880 organized in con- 
siderable detail. Governor Marshall Jewell was Gen- 
eral Garfield's choice for chairman. John A. Martin 

view to the strategic value of having centres of the campaign near 
or in doubtful States, as for instance, in 1896, when the Republican 
national committee selected Chicago as the point from which the then 
militant forces in the field were to be controlled, as it did also in 
1900 when one of its headquarters was located in New York and the 
other in Chicago. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 207 

was chosen secretary, and Washington was selected as 
the headquarters of the committee. 

The committee elected Governor Jewell at tlie direct 
suggestion of General Garfield for whom he managed 
the campaign with great ability and energy.^ Gover- 
nor Jewell's death prior to the convention of 1884 
necessitated a new choice by the committee and D. M. 
8abin was chosen and issued the call for that conven- 
tion. 

At length in 1884, the compiler of the proceedings 
of the Republican national convention begins to in- 
clude in his record some detail as to the actions and 
industries of the previous national committee and the 
various sub-committees. According to his account, at 
a meeting of the national committee held in the City 
of Washington on the 12th day of December, 1883, 
a sub-committee was chosen, consisting of seven mem- 
bers and charged with the duty of visiting Chicago, ap- 
pointing a local committee of arrangements and taking 
charge of the preparations for the convention. The 
sub-committee held a meeting at the Grand Pacific 
Hotel, Chicago, on Saturday, March 22d, 1884, and 
appointed a local committee of arrangements, con- 
sisting of nineteen members, none of whom were mem- 
bers of the national committee, but all prominent citi- 
zens of the State of Illinois. 

A finance committee of some two dozen members 
was also appointed, who provided means for preparing 
a proper hall in the Exposition Building, and defraying 
the other necessary expenses of the convention. This 
committee made a vigorous canvass of the city and 
speedily raised a fund sufficient to cover the expenses 

^Tweedy, History of Republican National Conventions, 202, 203. 



2o8 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY., 

of the convention. Sub-committees to take charge of 
necessary details, such as transportation, hotels, press, 
printing, ofl&cial reporting and official publication, te- 
legraphy, music, decoration, employees, auditing, state 
headquarters and hall were appointed by the chair- 
man of the local committee of arrangements, and, on 
recommendation of this local committee, the national 
sub-committee appointed Col. James A. Sexton, ser- 
geant-at-arms, and designated certain official reporters 
to do the reporting of the convention. 

The local organization thus perfected carried for- 
ward the preparations with complete success, including 
even the fitting up of rooms for the use of the As- 
sociated press, several telegraph companies and the re- 
porters of the daily press. The national committee 
met in Chicago a few days before the day set for the 
meeting of the convention, and the hall, in which the 
convention was to meet, was then turned over to them 
by the local committee of arrangements, at which time 
the national committee adopted a resolution of thanks 
to the local committee on arrangement and finance. 

The national committee, chosen by the convention 
of 1884 to conduct the campaign of that year and to 
call the convention of 1888, consisted of forty-seven 
delegates and organized by the selection of B. F. Jones 
as chairman, Samuel Fessenden, as secretary and John 
L. Ward as treasurer and placed its headquarters at 
Number 242 Fifth Avenue, New York City, 

In this year also the wishes of the presidential 
nominee were consulted and the election of Mr. Jones 
by the committee was at the earnest request of Mr. 
Blaine.^ 

"^The campaign fund at the disposal of the national committee in 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864- 1884 209 

Since the organization of the first regular Repub- 
lican national convention, it has been the prerogative 
and duty of the national committee, as we have seen, 
to choose the time and place at which the next national 
convention was to be held. Owing to the eager desire, 
of the various large cities of the country, to secure the 
honor of having the convention held within their 
limits, and the inducements offered by each city there 
has sometimes been a spirited contest on the question 
in the national committee. 

In December of 1887, the national committee held a 
meeting at its Washington headquarters at which dele- 
gates from various cities attended to urge the merits 
of their respective homes upon the national committee, 
to influence its choice of a place for holding the next 
national convention. Mayor Roche of Chicago and 
Senators Cullom and Farwell of Illinois, together with 
a large delegation from that State, presented the merits 
of Chicago with such earnestness that the committee 
selected that City. The duty of taking charge of the 
preparation for the convention was again intrusted 
to a sub-commit4]ee composed of nine members of the 
national committee with the chairman and secretary 
of the national committee as eoo-officio members. This 
sub-committee chose its own chairman and secretary 
and, meeting in February, 1888, at the Grand Pacific 
Hotel in Chicago, appointed committees of citizens to 
take charge of arrangements and look after details 
locally. An executive and finance committee was se- 

that year was only about $400,000, a large part of which Mr. Blaine 
himself contributed. Mr. Jones was one of the wealthy Pittsburg 
iron-masters. 



210 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

lected, as well as committees on hotels, printing, press, 
transportation, employees, music, decorations, State 
headquarters, hall, telegraph, auditing, official report- 
ing, and publication. The sub-committee, on the rec- 
ommendation of the executive and finance committee, 
appointed a sergeant-at-arms. Five days before the 
time of meeting of the convention, the Auditorium 
Building, with a seating capacity of 8,550 persons was 
turned over by the local committee to the sub-com- 
mittee and by them to the regular national. committee, 
and appropriate resolutions of thanks were passed. 

Students of politics have been greatly interested in 
endeavoring to obtain an adequate explanation of the 
fact that although Senator Matthew S. Quay of Penn- 
sylvania is always referred to as the chairman of the 
Eepublican national committee (selected by the con- 
vention of 1888) that conducted the campaign which 
resulted in the election of President Harrison, yet no 
official record of any of Mr. Quay's actions as chairman 
is apparently in existence. 

The call for the convention of 1892, issued by the 
national committee in that year is signed by James 
S. Clarkson as chairman, without any mention of or 
reference to Mr. Quay. 

Little, however, is disclosed of the inner workings 
of a Eepublican national committee and it was to ob- 
tain enlightenment upon the apparent inconsistency 
above mentioned, that the writer communicated with 
Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania, who was a 
close friend of the late Matthew S. Quay. 

Senator Penrose kindly referred the writer to Mr. 
James S. Clarkson, at present residing in this city, and 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-188 4 211 

through the courtesy of Mr. E. W. Bloomingdale au 
interview was had with the former First Assistant 
Postmaster General. 

Mr. Glarkson's explanation was: Mr. Harrison was 
nominated in the national convention of 1888 by the 
^^swinging" to him of the so-called "Old Blaine Crowd" 
or progressive element of that time. Mr. Clarkson was 
a member of the "Old Blaine Crowd" and had for many 
years been a close personal friend of General Harrison. 

After receiving the nomination, General Harrison 
sent for Mr. Clarkson and requested him to accept the 
chairmanship of the national committee. Mr. Clark- 
son, however, advised General Harrison that the "Old 
Grant Crowd" or "Stalwarts," led by Senator Conkling 
and other supporters of General Grant, should be en- 
couraged and placated and suggested that the interests 
of General Harrison would be best served if the chair- 
man were selected from the other element, and that Mr. 
Quay, who was a member of the "Old Guard," and also 
of the national committee, and who had been very 
prominent in Pennsylvania, would be an excellent 
choice. 

General Harrison acquiesced and thereupon Mr. 
Clarkson communicated with Mr. Charles Emory Smith 
of Philadelphia, who represented the anti-Quay element 
in Pennsylvania, as to whether any objection would be 
raised were such a selection made, and being advised 
in the negative Mr. Quay was asked to accept the posi- 
tion of chairman of the national committee, which he 
did. 

In July the committee's headquarters were estab- 
lished in New York, and as Mr. Quay (whom Mr. 
Clarkson regards as the greatest political general this 



212 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

country has ever had) was unable to come to New 
York until September, the office of vice-chairman was 
created to enable Mr. Clarkson to perform the active 
duties of chairmanship ^ during Mr. Quay's absence. 

After General Harrison's election, differences arose 
between the President and Mr. Quay because of the 
latter's dissatisfaction with the recognition which the 
President had accorded him and the national com- 
mittee. 

President Harrison desired Mr. Quay's retirement 
from the chairmanship but through the intervention of 
Mr. Clarkson matters were smoothed over. 

The breach between the President and Mr. Quay 
widened because of the great reluctance with which the 
President made the appointment of Mr. John Wana- 
maker as Postmaster General of the United States un- 
der the recommendation and strenuous insistence of 
Mr. Quay. 

In 1891 the President sent for Mr. Clarkson upon 
his return from abroad and again urged that the res- 
ignation of Mr. Quay should be procured. Mr. Clark- 
son thought that the time had arrived when the na- 
tional committee ought to listen to the wishes of the 
President and consented to act as an intermediary, 
particularly as Mr. Quay was desirious of resigning 

^The extensive campaign work, especially that part which is of a 
literary character began under the chairmanship of Mr. Quay and 
Mr. Clarkson and the practice was extended of distributing literature 
in various foreign tongues, adapted to the peculiar social position 
and religious persuasion of the different classes of voters,— a practice 
which has ever since prevailed and the details of which have been 
greatly elaborated and enlarged. For its services in this regard the 
Committee received a vote of thanks at the Convention of 1892. 
OfUcial Proceedings, etc., 1892, p. 122. 



NOMINATING MACHINERY, 1864-1884 213 

because of the conflict between his senatorial duties 
and his activities as national committee cliairman. 

At the meeting of the national committee in 1891, 
where the President was represented by Mr-. Charles 
Foster of Ohio, then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. 
Quay resigned and the wishes of the President were 
fulfilled. 

Mr. Clarkson who, up to this time had been vice- 
chairman, thereupon assumed the position of chairman, 
and Mr. Hobart, who later became Vice-President of 
the United States, took the office of vice-chairman. Mr. 
J. Sloat Fassett remained as secretary of the commit- 
tee, and Mr. Barber of Pennsylvania became treasurer. 

Accordingly the call issued in January, 1892 bore 
Mr. Clarkson's signature as chairman of the national 
committee and, by virtue of that office, he called the 
national convention of that jes.v to order. 

It should also be noted that in 1888, pursuant to 
the authority given to the committee by the national 
convention in that year,^ the committee selected an ex- 
ecutive committee of nine members, some of whom 
were members of the national committee and the rest 
prominent politicians from different localities in the 
Union. 

Headquarters were open for the committee at the 
Plaza Hotel, New York, and at the Arlington Hotel in 
the City of Washington. On the 21st of November, 
1891, a public hearing was held at the Washington 
headquarters of the committee and the claims of 
several cities presented to the committee, and their 
availability urged for holding the next national con- 

^ See supra. 



214 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

yention. Seven ballots were taken by the committee 
and the claims of nearly a dozen cities presented/ the 
final ballot resulting in favor of Minneapolis, which 
was represented by a delegation of nearly a hundred 
of the prominent men of the Northwest. A fund of 
150,000 was guaranteed to the national committee on 
condition that the convention be held in that city. The 
perfection of the preliminary arrangements was in- 
trusted to the executive committee of the national 
committee to perfect, and this committee author- 
ized Chairman Clarkson to appoint a sub-committee 
to take entire charge of all arrangements necessary 
to the holding of the convention. The chairman 
appointed such a committee, consisting of eight mem- 
bers with himself and the secretary as ex-officio 
members and likewise selected a sergeant-at-arms to 
whom was intrusted the duty of superintending the 
printing of tickets and the organization of the neces- 
sary force of assistant sergeant-at-arms, ushers and 
pages to seat the people and to maintain order 
during the sessions of the convention. The sub-com- 
mittee appointed a local citizens' executive committee 
as well as the usual specific local committees which 
had been employed in former years, adding this time a 
committee on State headquarters and a ladies' recep- 
tion committee. The fifty thousand dollar guarantee 
fund was nearly doubled and a twelve story office 
building was secured for the use of the press alone. 

Thomas H. Carter of Montana, who was not a mem- 
ber of the original national committee was chosen as 

'^Proceedings of the loth Republican National Convention, held in 
the City of Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 7th, 8th, gth and loth, 1892, 
p. 6. 



NOMINATION MACHINERY, 1864-1884 215 ' 

the chairman of the Republican national committee 
appointed by the convention of 1892, and Joseph H. 
Manley was chosen secretary. The selection of Mr. 
Carter was likewise made at the suggestion of General 
Harrison. 

The national committee chosen at the convention 
of 1896 marks a new era. The committee organized 
by the formation of an executive committee of twenty 
members, (eleven of whom, including the chairman of 
the national committee, occupied headquarters of the 
Auditorium Hotel, Chicago, and nine of w^hom had 
headquarters in the Metropolitan Life Building, New 
York City), and by chosing Marcus A. Hanna of Ohio, 
as chairman, and Charles Dick of Ohio, as secretary. 
Cornelius N. Bliss of New York was chosen treasurer, 
and there was also appointed a sub-treasurer and a 
member of the executive committee in charge of the 
bureau of speakers and another in charge of literary 
and press matters.^ None of these men, including the 
chairman himself, were members of the original na- 
tional committee appointed by the convention of 1892, 
but they formed a part of the national committee, un- 
der the resolution adopted in 1888, previously re- 
ferred to. 

Mr. Hanna had managed Major McKinley's canvass 
for the nomination with headquarters at Cleveland, ^ ^ f ^ 
Ohio, for months prior to the convention of 1886 with 
signal ability and was generally recognized as the 
right man to take charge of the campaign for his elec- 

^ Two hundred and seventy-eight different newspapers from thirty- 
eight different States had representatives at the national convention 
of 1896. 



2i6 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

tion. His selection by Mr. McKinley was accordingly 
ratified by the vote of the committee. 

This national committee of 1896, its chairman, 
officers, general method of organization and powers, 
became the prototype of all succeeding national com- 
mittees, with this exception that in 1900 and sub- 
sequent years the national committee has selected an 
advisory committee as an auxiliary to itself. This 
advisory committee is composed of Senators and mem- 
bers of the Federal Cabinet at Washington, as well 
as other prominent politicians and statesmen ^ and 
usually numbers from thirty to fifty members. In 
1900, the national committee had risen to such prom- 
inence that the official proceedings contain not merely 
a perfunctory list of its members and officers, but like- 
wise a detailed statement of its several headquarters, 
the delegates and officers attached to each, as well as 
a full list of the advisory committee, containing among 
others the names of Senators Piatt, Depew and Aldrich. 
The pictures of the chairman, Mr. Hanna, and of the 
chairman of the sub-committee on arrangements, Mr. 
Hanley, are also printed in the proceedings, and in 
1904 the photographs of the chairman for that year, 
Mr. Cortelyou, as well as those of other prominent 
officers of the national committee for that year and 
preceding years are reproduced. 

^In 1904, Chairman Cortelyou had a large advisory committee com- 
posed of skilled politicians from all sections. They never met as a 
body but communicated with the chairman by letter or in person, 
telHng him of the progress of the fight in their several States. Speaker 
Cannon and Senator Frye, most especially represented the House and 
the Senate on the advisory committee. In addition there were a dozen 
or more Representatives and Senators besides many other prominent 
citizens including Federal and State officials. 



NOMINATION MACHINERY, 1864-1884 217 

Magazines and newspapers pay a similarly increased 
attention to the national committee and its officers, 
particularly its chairman and treasurer, and begin- 
ning with 1896, the working of the national com- 
mittee and the character and personality of the chair- 
man of the national committee are the subject of 
much attention.^ 

Thus it would appear that the chairman though 
nominally chosen by the committee has in reality since 
1868 been selected by the presidential candidate. In 
fact it has been customary for the Republican nominee 
for the past forty years to select his own campaign 
manager and for the national committee to then elect 
his choice to its chairmanship Avhether he be a member 
of the original national committee or not. This has 
been due to a large extent to the natural connection 
and identity of interest between the President's cam- 
paign manager and the chairman of the national part) 
committee; so that unless the President's selection 
were peculiarly distasteful to the majority of the com- 
mittee they would naturally ratify his choice. 

Prior to 1868 it may be noticed the national com- 
mittee chairman played little or no part as a campaign 
manager. From 1868 to 1880 the committee's so-called 
choice combined close attachment to the presidential 
nominee with representation of the national party^ but 

^"George B. Cortelyou and the Republican Campaign," Review oi 
Reviews, XXX, 294-8. 

"The Management of the Taft Campaign," Review of Reviews, 
XXXVIII, 432-8. 

"Chairman Frank H. Hitchcock," Review of Reviews, XXXVIII, 
438-42. 

"How the Republican National Committee Works for Votes, 
Review of Reviews, XXII, 549-55- 



2i8 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

since the Blaine campaign of 1884 while in some years 
both qualifications may have been present the choice 
was primarily for an active experienced campaign 
manager rather than a particular representative of the 
national party. In some years in fact the committee 
has been divided and there was talk of replacing the 
presidential candidate's choice after election by a more 
representative man of the party but this has never been 
done. 

Once chosen by the presidential nominee the chair- 
man has absolute control of the entire campaign and 
"wields the power of a commander-in-chief in regard to 
everybody.'^ 

Every national committee is a rule to itself obeying 
neither rule nor precedent and no official records of its 
acts are preserved. 

The origin and development of the part which the 
national committee plays in issuing the call for the con- 
vention and in forming the preliminary organization of 
that gathering have been previously detailed. 

When the national convention has been organized, 
the authority of the national committee is ended, 
though the chairman retains his office until the new 
national committee, chosen for the ensuing four years 
by the delegates at the convention has been organized. 
While much is known concerning the work^ which 
the Republican national committees have performed 

^"The Republican National Committee; How it works for votes," 
Review of Reviews, XXII, 529. It was estimated that the Republican 
committee in 1896 sent out about 20,000 express packages, 5,000 
freight packages and probably half a million packages by mail. 
Nearly a hundred different documents and a dozen or more posters 
were put out in 1900. 80,000,000 copies of them at a cost of $164,000, 



NOMINATION MACHINERY, 1864-1884 219 

during the presidential campaigns which have occurred 
during the past thirty years, little information as to 
their operations throughout the three intervening years 
is to be found. The duties of that period are however 
numerous and important. " ^To promote the Demo- 
cratic cause' was one of the labors assigned to its 
committee by the D'emocratic convention of 1848, 
and this may be taken as a comprehensive statement 
of the work of a national committee. A common 
cause of party weakness and failure is the rise of mis- 
understandings, division and local faction within the 
party. The committee, representing in theory the 
whole party constituency of the country, is in a posi- 
tion to resist the development of faction and to exercise 
powerful influence in correcting misunderstandings and 
healing dissensions. Along such lines, its practical use- 
fulness may be almost unlimited and much of its time 
during the years of comparative inaction is devoted to 
the labor of harmonizing elements, possibly discord- 
ant." ^ It may also actively assist in discovering and 
determining the will of the party and of the country. 
For the very reason that the committee does not 
authoritatively conduct the elections held during the 

and 3,000,000 campaign buttons of different sorts were sent out. 
As soon as the issues of the campaign are pretty well settled, the 
* national committee prints and distributes a campaign text book which 
usually contains the platform, notification and acceptance speeches, 
biographical sketches of the candidates, statistics on business, tariff, 
trusts, money and other economic issues, addresses by prominent 
leaders and the most cogent arguments which the party can advance 
in defense of its position. 

In 1896 the cost of this branch of the work was something over 
$700,000, and in 1900,— the text book being a closely printed well 
bound volume of 456 pages,— it came close to a million dollars. 

^J. Macy, Pa7'ty Organisation and Machinery, 68, 69. 



220 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ^ 

three years, intervening between the presidential cam- 
paigns, it is enabled all the more effectively to obtain 
full and accurate information as to the temper of the 
people all over the Union and, observing the course 
of public events and the development of national is- 
sues, it is "prepared to sum up the results for the 
benefit of the party in the conflict at the end of that 
period. '' ^ 

The history of the Republican party furnishes nu- 
merous illustrations of this. Thus in December 1859 
the call issued by the national committee for the con- 
vention of 1860 invited "the Eepublican electors of the 
several States, the members of the people's party of 
Pennsylvania, and the opposition party of New Jeisey, 
and all others who are willing to co-operate with tliem 
in support of the candidates who shall be nominated.'' 
It w^as the national committee that decided wliom to 
invite to the convention, and whose members assumed 
"the responsibility of designating" the peoi3le's party of 
Pennsylvania and the opposition party of New Jersey 
suitable component parts of that contention." ^ 

In calling the convention, the national committee 
formulated in much detail what it regarded as the 
precise issues of the hour ; such as, the right of Con- 
gress to prohibit the extension of slavery in the Terri- • 
tories, and the immediate admission of Kansas as a 
free State. Four years later the committee assumed 
the responsibility of suppressing the party name and 
neither in the call nor in any official report of the 
proceedings of the convention which followed, does tlie 

^ Ihid., 69, 70. 
'Ihid., 70. 



NOMINATION MACHINERY, 1864-1884 221 

name llepubiican aiiy\Aiiere appear. It describes it- 
self as ^'The undersigned, who by original appoint- 
ment or by subsequent designation to fill vacancies, 
constitute the Executive Committee created by the 
National Convention held at Chicago on May 16tli, 
1860." Not a single reference is made to any opposing 
partj^ and all qualified voters, "who desire the uncondi- 
tional maintenance of the Union, the supremacy of the 
Constitution, and the complete suppression of the exist- 
ing rebellion with the cause thereof, by vigorous war 
and all apt and efficient means," are invited to send 
delegates to the convention.^ 

The position of the Eepublican national committee 
after 1860 "was a peculiarly delicate and responsible 
one. As soon as the war had become serious, the ob- 
noxious partisan name was dropped, as if by common 
consent. All citizens, regardless of party, were called 
upon to support the government and there was a 
prompt and hearty response." ^ 

"When the time for the meeting of the Republican 
convention was approaching in 1864, the national 
committee waited for two months after the usual date 
for the holding of a non-partizan "Union Convention," 
assuming the responsibility of giving an entirely new 
name to their party." ^ The national committee ap- 
pointed by the "Union Convention" took the liberty of 
restoring the Republican name in issuing the call for the 
convention of 1868, adding the word Republican to the 
previous title.* 

^J. Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, 71. 
'Ibid., 72. 

'J. Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, 72. 
* Official Proceedings, etc., 1876, p. 233. 



222 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY- 

Again in 1876 we find Governor Morgan as chair- 
man of the national committee suggesting what the 
committee regarded as issues on which the conven- 
tion should take a definite stand and on which it 
should "put planks in the platform." 

The quiet and almost unnoticed extension of po- 
litical power by the Kepublican national committee 
during the past forty years has been truly remarkable. 
This simple agency of party activity of little more 
than a generation ago has silently assumed functions 
and privileges undreamed of at the time of its crea- 
tion. It aims to-day to dictate to the very partj^ 
which created it, to control conventions, prescribe 
candidates, distribute party rewards and to consolidate 
and perpetuate the power which has fallen into its 
hands. But its rise to power has been slow and 
gradual. Its early function, the only one described in 
histories of parties was very modest. 

The change began in 1884 when Senator Gorman 
was chairman of the Democratic national committee. 
Cleveland's victory involved the re-organization of the 
whole Federal administration and office-holding body 
and Mr. Gorman, who had been in active control of 
the Democratic machine for the preceding five months, 
was called upon to sift the claims to political favor 
of thousands of Democrats unknown to the President 
elect. This new activity came to him not by virtue 
of his position as United States Senator but as na- 
tional committee chairman. He became the leader in 
distributing patronage and to a great extent in deter- 
mining party policy. 



NOMINATION MACHINERY, 1864-1884 223 

Matthew S. Quay, whose wonderful political gen- 
eralship had contributed in so great a degree to Harri- 
son's election in 1888, greatly enlarged the preroga- 
tives and powers of the office he held, ^ which reached 
their culmination in Senator Marcus A. Hanna in 
1896. He, more than any other party chairman be- 
fore him, influenced the distribution of party patronage 
and kept a firm hand at all times on the levers of the 
national machine. 

Accountable to no one and having a campaign 
fund of millions to distribute, the national committee 
chairman's power is to-day almost unlimited. He 
alone is fully cognizant of the express or tacit party 
obligations which have gone with the collection of 
this fund and becomes thus, as it were, a "repository 
of secret liens upon party action and the one myster- 
ious agent by means of whom they are made good.'' 

^Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Legislature to commemorate the 
public services of Matthew S. Quay, March 22nd, 1905, page 2Z. 



The Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. 

Further developing and centralizing the national 
party organization, there was formed shortly after the 
close of the Civil War, alongside of the national com- 
mittee, another central committee at Washington — the 
congressional campaign committee — for the purpose of 
directing congressional campaigns. This committee 
always works in co-operation with the national com- 
mittee, though entirely independent of it. 

The members of the Republican congressional com- 
mittee are appointed to the number of one for each 
State by the Republican Senators and Representatives 
of all the States meeting in joint caucus which is called 
by petition of party members in each House. At this 
meeting the Republican members from each State and 
Territory designate one of their number to serve on 
the committee. If there is but one party member in 
^ / Congress from any State or Territory, that one be- 

X^ / comes a member of the committee. If the State or Ter- 

ritory has no Republican Representative in Congress, 
it has no representation on the Republican congreB- 
sional committee. There is no rule as to whether an> 
of the members of the committee shall be Senators, 
though, as a matter of fact, some Senators are always 
chosen. The great majority are however from the 
Lower House. ^ After a new House of Representatives 
has been elected the congressional committee is re- 
organized, the former committee expiring with the 
Congress which created it. 
^J. Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, 91 • 

224 



i/ ^ 



/ 



CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 225 

^'The origin of the congressional committee belongs 
to a time of sharp conflict ^ between the executive and 
legislative branches of the government.^ In the na- 
tional convention of the Eepublican party whicli nomi- 
nated Lincoln and Johnson in 1864, the name Union 
was for reasons previously detailed ^ substituted for Re- 
publican. That body included and represented many 
supporters of the Lincoln administration who were not 
Republicans and it was on account of the Union Dem- 
ocrats in the convention that Mr. Johnson's name was 
placed upon the ticket.^ When Johnson became Pres- 
ident the great body of the Republicans in Congress 
were driven into opposition and the support of the Ex- 
ecutive came mainly from the Democrats. It is unnec- 
essary to give the details of the famous conflict that 
followed, out of which came a number of changes ^ in 

^ The events which occurred during the administration of Andrew 
Johnson furnished the most conspicuous instance in our history of the 
rivalry of leadership between Congress and the Executive. 

^J. Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, 30, 87. 

^ See supra, pages 88, et seq. 

* Andrew Johnson, a Southern man, had always been a Democrat, 
but along with many other Democrats, he was a strong Unionist and 
had been devoted to the support of the first Lincoln administration. 
In recognition of this branch of the Union party, the name of Johnson 
was placed upon the ticket and by the death of Lincoln a man who had 
never borne the Republican party name became President. 

^ "Another sequence to the events of Johnson's term, though one that 
could not be so readily proven to have grown out of the contest be- 
tween the two departments of the government, is that since that time, 
members of Congress have had a larger proportionate share in the 
distribution of party patronage.". At that time Congress passed laws 
restraining the President in the matter of appointments. "Though 
these laws were afterwards repealed, the members of the two Houses 
have nevertheless retained a considerable part of the patronage which 



226 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

party organization and party leadership. Since tlie 
Eepublican party was left without a presidential 
leader, the two Houses of Congress looked about them 
for an efficient substitute. This was the situation when 
the time approached for the election of a new Congress 
in 1866. The President having control of the public 
patronage was using it to strengthen his administra- 
tion. The national party committee closely identified 
as it was with the Executive was an unsatisfactory 
agency for the use of the Republicans in Congress. 
Tn this emergency, that the party might not suffer in 
the congressional elections of 1866, the Republican 
members of the two Houses agreed upon the appoint- 
ment of a national committee of their own to take 
charge of the elections in the several States, They 
^'organized and conducted a campaign and secured a 
representation in Congress strong enough to enable 
them to overcome the President's veto."^ 

The new central party organ ^ called the congres- 
sional campaign committee, in watching the electoral 
situation in the congressional districts penetrated more 
deeply and more continuously into local political life 
than could have been done by the permanent committee 
of the national convention which made its appearance 
on the eve of and principally in view of the presidential 
election. 

law and earlier usage had given to the President." (J. Macy, Party 
Organization and Machinery, 32.) 

^J. Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 87-88. 

^A few years after the formation of the first Republican con- 
gressional committee, the Democratic party followed the RepubHcan 
examiple, but differed somewhat in method of organization from 
the Republican model. 



CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE' 227 

In the official proceedings of the convention of 
1872 for the first time mention is made, of the ex- 
istence of a Republican congressional committee and, 
under the heading of ^^Union Republican Congressional 
Committee/' a list of the thirty-eight members of 
Congress constituting the committee of that year to- 
gether with the respective States which they represented, 
is given. The record also shows that an executive com- 
mittee of eleven members of the congressional com- 
mittee was formed of whom Zachariah Chandler was 
chairman, James M. Edmunds, secretary, and H. D'. 
Clark, treasurer, and that the headquarters of the com- 
mittee were located at Washington, D. C. 

A more detailed organization of the Republican 
congressional committee is revealed in the official pro- 
ceedings of the convention of 1876. The committee 
consisted of thirty-five members, and this time we find 
that three committees were appointed: an executive 
committee of nine members, of which Simon Cameron 

In the organization of the Democratic congressional committee the 
following differences from the Republican model should be noted, viz. : 
In the first place, the members of the committee instead of being 
chosen at a joint caucus of the two Houses are appointed at separate 
caucuses of the Houses. There is also a definite rule respecting the 
representation from each House. The Senate has nine members on 
the committee appointed by the senatorial caucus and in addition to 
these, each State and Territory which has representatives in the lower 
House has a member from that House on the committee. If it hap- 
pens that any State or Territory has no party member of the House 
of Representatives, then some prominent Democrat in the State or 
Territory is chosen to serve on the committee. The Democratic 
method creates a much larger committee than does the Republican 
method. In 1903, the Democratic committee numbered 59; the Re- 
publican, 2)4- An interesting discussion of this difference in the 
organization of the congressional committees of the two great parties 
is found in J. Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 92. 



228 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

was chairman and which numbered among its members 
John A. Logan and Thomas C. Piatt; a committee 
of three on finance^ and a committee of three on print- 
ing. In addition to the chairman there was a secre- 
tary, treasurer and chief clerk for the committee, the 
latter not being a member of the committee. The 
headquarters were located at 1006-P Street N. W., 
Washington, D. C. 

Variations are noticeable in the comparative in- 
fluence and importance of the Republican congres- 
sional committee at different periods during the past 
forty years of its existence. 

The official proceedings of the national conventions 
for the years 1880, 1884, 1888 and 1892 contain no ref- 
erence of any kind to the existence of a congressional 
committee, doubtless due to the fact that in 1880 
(though the committee was active in the campaign of 
that year) a breach arose between the national com- 
mittee and the congressional committee At that time 
many persons advised the abandonment of the double 
national party committee system and for some twelve 
years thereafter the activities of the Eepublican con- 
gressional committee almost ceased, but in 1894 it 
emerged ^ once more and assumed its duties particu- 
larly in the congressional field, so that we find the Re- 
publican congressional committee and its officers and 
organization once more chronicled in detail in the 
official proceedings of the convention of 1896. Its or- 
ganization at this time consisted of a chairman, vice- 
chairman, secretary, assistant-secretary and treasurer 
and also an executive committee of six members among 

^ J. Macy, Party Organi/^ation and Machinery, 92. 



CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 229 

whom appeared such prominent men as Joseph G. 
Cannon and James S. Sherman. The committee proper 
consisted of forty-one members and its headquarters 
were as usual at Washington, D. C. 

The official proceedings of all subsequent Repub- 
lican national conventions refer to the organization of 
the Republican congressional committee, giving in de- 
tail its officers, members and executive committee to- 
gether with the States, Territories and dependencies 
represented. Tlie one change to which reference should 
be made is, that in 1904 the headquarters of the com- 
mittee were located at 1135 Broadway, New York City. 

It is only occasionally that we gain any glimpses 
into the inner operations of the Republican congres- 
sional committee and we are fortunate in having this 
interesting account from the biography of Zachariah 
Chandler, ^ published by the Detroit Post and Trihune, 
in 1880 : 

In the general elections of 1870 and 1872, Mr. Chandler 
was exceedingly active, devoting much time to organization 
and to the general distribution of political literature. The 
latter branch of party effort had become the special province 
of the Republican Congressional Committee. For more than 
twenty years (this was in 1880) there have been two dis- 
tinct executive organizations within the Republican party, 
independent of each other, but always working in harmony, 
namely : The National Committee and the Congressional 
Committee. The latter is composed of a representative in 
Congress from each State chosen by the Republican members 
of the respective delegations. No man can serve upon the 
committee unless he holds a seat in Congress, and States 
which have no Republican Congressman are unrepresented in 

^ Zachariah Chandler, 312, 313. 



230 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

its membership. Mr. Chandler and Mr. James W. Edmunds 
were the founders of the Congressional Committee as a prac- 
tical and influential working body; their plans and efforts 
first made it a power in American politics * * * t^^ 
special objects which it aimed to accomplish were the secur- 
ing of a uniform treatment of political topics by news- 
papers and speakers throughout the country and the 
circulation of instructive and timely documents. Dur- 
ing the reconstruction era it also devoted much at- 
tention to the work of Republican organization in the 
South where special efforts were necessary to form into ef- 
fective voting masses the emancipated slaves. But the great 
aim of the committee was the circulation of political literature. 
This end it sought to reach by two methods; first by the 
publication and mailing to individuals and to local com- 
mittees in all parts of the country of such congressional 
speeches as dealt effectively with the current political situa- 
tion; second, by furnishing the Republican Press, through 
the medium of weekly sheets of carefully prepared matter, 
with accurate information as to the facts underlying existing 
issues and suggestions as to their best treatment before the 
people. Obviously this work could be done best in Wash- 
ington. * * * Hence it was deemed wise to establish a 
system of guidance, from that point, of the public discussions 
of each national campaign so that increased intelligence, co- 
hesion and efficiency could be given to the general attack on 
the enemy. 

In the beginning, then, the congressional committee 
was a party instrumentality adopted to meet an 
emergency only, ^'but it was not long before it had so 
commended itself to the party leaders as to be accepted 
and made a permanent part of the organization,^' and 
has ever since remained in active service long after th^ 
passing away of the special exigency which gave it 



CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 231 

birth. It lias become an accepted organ of both parties 
because of the conviction that since Congress has its 
distinct place in partj^ leadership and since its member- 
ship is renewed b}^ elections occurring every other year, 
it has need of its own special party agency. 

The national convention and the national com- 
mittee though nominally and truly representing the en- 
tire party are in respect to their peculiar duties more 
specifically connected with the Executive. "That com- 
mittee is indeed in a way the special agent of the pres- 
idential candidate appointed to secure his election and 
identified with his interests ; but members of Congress^ 
even of the same political connection, have duties and 
interests quite distinct from those of the Executive and 
the national congressional committee is an institu- 
tional recognition of this patent and significant fact. It 
not infrequently happens that serious differences arise 
between the President and his party in Congress, and 
it is highly important that these dissensions should 
not be allowed to mar the party unity in the voting 
constituency. Conceding the President's prior claim 
upon the original national committee. Congress can 
place full confidence in a committee of its own members 
connecting it directly with the local organizations in 
each congressional district." ^ 

The usefulness of the congressional committee is 
especially demonstrated in the election campaigns oc- 
curring in the >^off years,'' that is to sa^-, those years in 
which the congressional elections occur. Members of the 
national committee may also, as individuals, take an ac- 
tive part in these elections, but the committee does not 

^ J. Macy, Party Organization & Machinery, 88. 



232 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

organize and take charge of the campaign as in pres- 
idential years. This is now the province of the congres- 
sional committee, whose members have been "selected 
by their colleagues for their political astuteness in con 
ducting campaigns." It prepares and issues a cam- 
paign text book and other "political literature" and 
assists doubtful districts by supplying speakers and 
funds for campaign purposes. The committee does not 
put forth a formal platform but assumes that the dec- 
laration of principles promulgated by the last preced- 
ing national convention is in force so far as it is ap- 
plicable to the existing conditions. When new issues 
have arisen, as in the case of the war with Spain in 
1898, the attitude of the party toward those questions 
will find expression in the campaign literature pre- 
pared by its congressional committee.^ 

The congressional committee also distributes docu- 
ments, chiefly Republican congressional speeches and 
public reports under congressional franks. Before the 
campaign is ended, many millions of these, weighing 
tons, have been sent out from its distributing office in 
Washington. The congressional literature appeals es- 
pecially to the country voter. The literary bureau of 
the national committee does not trench upon the dis- 
tributing work of the congressional committee. "It 
seeks to make its news service attractive, to entertain 
while it educates. Statistics that talk, cartoons and 
striking posters are some of its best methods." 

In congressional years, the congressional committee 
pays little heed to national policy, platforms or pro- 

^J. Macy, Party Organisation and Machinery, 89. 



CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 233 

grams and simply endeavors to insure the success 
at the congressional elections of the candidates who 
bear the party label whatever their political com- 
plexion. It divides all the congressional districts into 
three categories: the good, the hopeless and the doubt- 
ful; almost neglecting the first two groups, it directs 
all its efforts toward the districts of the last group. ^ 
In the interval between the elections, it follows the 
fortunes of the party in the districts attentively, as- 
certaining the vote of each succeeding election by 
counties and inquiring into the causes if it notes a 
fall in the number of votes polled by the candidate of 
the party. The committee likewise interposes to 
reconcile opposing factions and is in close touch with 
all the county committees in the Union, which point 
out to it the special steps necessary to strengthen the 
party in their several congressional districts and in 
general look to the congressional committee for advice 
and assistance.^ 

There are no fixed rules governing the relations of 
the two national party committees to each other. They 
must of course work in harmony ^ for the triumph of 

^In this respect it differs materially from the Democratic congres- 
sional committee which seeks to add strength to the party in all sec- 
tions alike. For the reason of this difference, see J. Macy, Party 
Organization and Machinery, 92. 

^ Campaign funds are supplied to the congressional committee, but 
these donations are much smaller than the ones received by the na- 
tional committee. In the congressional campaign of 1908-9 varying 
estimates place it from $125,000 to $750,000. (New York Times, Jan- 
uary 1 2th, 1909.) 

^ Evidence of the co-operation of the national and congressional 
committees was furnished in the campaign of 1904 in which James A. 
Tawney who acted as chief of the speakers' bureau of the national 



234 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY ^ 

the party and in presidential years the congressional 
committee occupies a relatively subordinate position. 
On the opening of the presidential campaign, it places 
all its resources at the disposal of the national commit- 
tee and becomes its close ally, foregoing its own ini- 
tiative even in what concerns the congressional elec- 
tions, for in the '^presidential year" all the elections 
tend to follow the fortunes of the contest for the presi- 
dency. "It issues no text book of its own but may assist 
the national committee in the preparation of such a 
work" and frequently much of the matter prepared dur- 
ing the four years by the congressional committee is used 
again in the presidential campaign. ''While it may 
raise funds and aid doubtful districts it must not in 
the exercise of these functions interfere with the plans 
of the national campaign committee.''^ 

committee in the West had Ukewise been in charge for some time 
of the similar bureau for the congressional committee. 

^J. Macy, Party Organization and Machinery, 89. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 

SOURCES FOR: 

1. National Conventions. 

a. Campaign text books published by the national and con- 

gressional committees. 

b. Proceedings of the national conventions of the two parties 

(officialy published and re-published by order of the con- 
ventions). 

c. Memoirs of private persons who were present and magazine 

articles written by such persons. 

d. Contemporary newspaper and magazine accounts as well as 

contemporary campaign text books, scrap books and hand 
books of politics. 

e. The convention system is fully treated in Chapters X, XI, 

XII of J. A. Woodburn's "Political Parties and Party 
Problems"). 

f. An interesting sketch of the history of congressional 

caucuses and presidential conventions is given by Mr. M. 
Ostrogorski in two articles in the Annates de I'Ecole Libre 
des Sciences Politiques, January and April, 1888. 

g. The full text of the Republican national platforms from 

1856 to 1900 may be found in F. Curtis, The Repub- 
lican Party, 1, II, also in T. H. McKee, National Con- 
ventions and Platforms, and J. Tweedy, A History of 
Republican National Conventions. The platform of any 
special convention is of course also to be found in the 
official proceedings of the convention. 

h. The evolution of the present convention is admirably dis- 
cussed in "The Rise and Fall of the Nominating Caucus, 
Legislative and Congressional," M. Ostrogorski, Ameri- 
can Historical Review, Jan., 1900; Vol. V, p. 253. 

2. National Committee. 

a. The proceedings of the national conventions are the main 
sources of official inform.ation upon the work and or- 

235 



2z<^ FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

ganization of the national committee. A discussion of 
its organization and character is also found in J. Macy, 
Party Organisation and Machinery. 

b. "This committee receives increasing attention in current 

literature." "New Powers of the National Committee." 
R. Ogden, The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. LXXXIX, p. 76. 
"The Republican National Committee; How it works 
for votes." Review of Reviews, Vol. XXII, p. 529. 
"George B. Cortelyou, and the Republican Campaign," 
Review of Reviews, Vol. XXX, p. 294.. "The Manage- 
ment of the Taft Campaign." Review of Reviews, Vol. 
XXXVIII, p. 432. 

c. Direct information from members of the national com- 

mittee. 

3. State Party Organisation. 

a. Direct information from party managers. 

b. Printed rules of party committees. 

c. Laws regulating the process of nomination; primary election 

laws. 

d. Published proceedings of State party conventions; few 

and meagre. 

e. In some of the States there are outlines of party history with 

texts of State platforms of the different parties. 

f. F. J. Goodnow, "Political Parties and City Governm_ent" 

Proceedings National Municipal League, Vol. V (1899). 

g. Excellent accounts of party organization in Massachusetts, 
Indiana and Missouri are contained in J. Macy's Party 
Organisation and Machinery. 

h. Local party organization especially Republican in New York 
City, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Boston, is admirably dis- 
cussed in F. W. Whitridge's The Caucus System and F. 
W. Dallinger's Nominations for Elective OMce in the 
United States. 

i. C. E. Merriam of Chicago University, "State Central Com- 
mittees." Political Science Quarterly, Vol. XIX, p. 224 
(1904). This is a detailed study of the organization of 
the State party committees in most of the States of the 
Union. 



BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 237 

4. State Platforms. 

a. Proceedings of the State conventions. (Sometimes officially- 

published by order of the conventions.) 

b. Campaign text books published by the several State execu- 

tive or central committees. 

c. All of the State platforms for the year 1871 have been gath- 

ered and printed by Hon. Edward McPherson, LLD., 
Clerk of the House of Representatives in a Handbook of 
Politics for 1872 (1872). 

5. Party History, Organization and Machinery Generally. 

a. "Every ntysr phase in the growth of party machinery has 

called forth fresh criticism and warning. The literature 
hostile to the political party is of peculiar importance be- 
cause of its portra3''al of a clear recognition of the party 
as a distinct political institution." Of these attacks upon 
the party system, M, Ostrogorski's work, Democracy and 
the Organization of Political Parties is one of the latest 
and in many respects the most important. 

Those who have written in defense of parties, from a 
friendly or sympathetic spirit have usually failed to recog- 
nize in the American party organization a political insti- 
tution, extra-legal, unique, peculiar and of the deepest sig- 
nificance. "Party history such as forms a part of cam- 
paign literature is not the history of a party, but is rather 
political history from a partizan standpoint." 

b. Various references to party and faction found in The Feder- 

alist, illustrate the type of American ideas which prevailed, 
one might say, before the American party system appeared. 
(See paper No. X by Madison.) 

c. The following are a few of the many magazine articles 

which will be found instructive : "The Place of Party in 
the Political System," Anson D. Morse, Annals of the 
American Academy, Vol. H, No. 3 ; "The Party Organiza- 
tion," J. Macy, Chicago Record, Homestudy Circle, 1900; 
"Party Government in the United States ; The Import- 
ance of Government by the Republican Party," George G. 
Hoar, The International Monthly, Oct. 1900. Vol. I. 

d. Official proceedings of the national conventions and party 

campaign text books. 



238 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

e. The following general treatises are useful: J. Macy, 
Political Parties in the United States; J. Macy, Party 
Organization and Machinery; J. Bryce, American Com- 
monwealth; A. Shaw, Political Problems of Ameri- 
can Development; C. A. Beard, American Government 
and Politics; J. S. Jenks, History of Political Parties in 
New York; J. H, Hopkins, History of Political Parties 
in the United States; J. A. Woodburn, Political Parties 
and Party Problems in the United States; F. W. Dal- 
linger, Nominations for Elective Office; E. C Meyer, 
Nominating Systems; J. P. Gordy, History of Political 
Parties in the United States. Schouler, Adams, McMaster 
and Rhodes in their Histories of the United States are 
valuable as well as Stanwood's History of the Presidency; 
McKee's Party Platforms; McClure's, Our Presidents and 
How We Make Them; Nicolay and Hay's Life of Lin- 
coln; Greeley's American Conflict; Benton's Thirty Years' 
View; Blaine's Twenty Years of Congress; Burgess' Mid- 
dle Period, Civil War and the Constitution, Reconstruc- 
tion and the Constitution; Wilson's Division and Reunion, 
and History of the American People. 

DOCUMENTS AND ORIGINAL SOURCES: 

a. Most of the documents referred to in this work are printed 
at length in the proceedings of the national and State 
conventions officially published and re-published by or- 
der of the conventions, and many of them are also to 
be found in the collections of pamphlets, and other con- 
temporary records in many of the large libraries in the 
City of New York. 



LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED 

Adams, C. F. Charles Francis Adams (1900). 
Appleton's Annual Encyclopedia (1864-83). 

Bancroft, F. Life of William Henry Seward, I, II (1900). 

Beard, C A. American Government and Politics (1910). 

Beard, C. A. Readings in American Government and Politics (1909). 

Benton, T. H. Thirty Years' View, I, II (1879). 

Bernheim, A, C. Party Organizations and Their Nominations to 
Public Office, etc. Political Science Quarterly, III, 99-123 (1888). 

Bigelow, J. John C. Fremont (1856). 

Bigelow, J. Samuel J. Tilden's Public Writing and Speeches, I (1895). 

Birney, W. James G. Birney and His Times (1890). 

Bishop, J. B. Our Political Drama. Conventions, Campaigns, Candi- 
dates (1904). 

Blaine, J. G. Twenty Years of Congress, I (1884). 

Blanchard, R. Rise and Fall of Poltical Parties in the United States 
(1884). 

Boutwell, G. S. Why I am a Republican (1884). 

Brown, S. G. Life of Rufus Choate (1891). 

Bryce, J. The American Commonwealth, I, II (1906). 

Burgess, J. Vv\ The Civil War and the Constitution (1903). 

Burgess, J. W. The Middle Period (1900). 

Burgess, J. W. Political Science and Comparative Constitutional Law, 
I, II (1890). 

Burk, A. B. Golden Jubilee of the Republican Party (1906). 

Cambridge Modern History, VII (1903). 

Channing, E. & Hart, A. B. Guide to American History, §§186, 189, 

198, 202 (1896). 
Champion, F. Campaign Hand Book and Manual (1872). 
Cluskey, M. W. Political Text Book (i860). 
Colton, C. Works of Henry Clay (1904)- 
Congressional Globe, 34th and 35th Congresses (1855-59). 
Conkling, A. R. Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling (1889). 
Cooley, T. M. The General Principles of Constitutional Law in the 

United States of America (1903). 
Cooper, T. V. & Fenton, H. T. American Politics (1884). 

239 



240 FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

Curtis, G. T. Life of Daniel Webster (1870). 
Curtis, F. The Republican Party, I, II (1904), 



Dallinger, F. W. Nominations for Elective Office in the United States 

(1897). 

Detroit Post and Tribune. Zachariah Chandler (1880). 

Dunning, W. A. The Second Birth of the Republican Party, Ameri- 
can Historical Review, XVI, 56 (Oct. 1900). 

Fiske, J. Essays, Historical and Literary, II (1907). 
Fiske, J. Whig Party (1902). 

Flower, F. A. History of the Republican Party (1884). 
Ford, FI. J. Rise and Growth of American Politics (1898). 

Garrison,' W. L. Westward Extension, American Nation, XVII, ch. 

XVL 
Giddings, F. H. The Principles of Sociology (1896). 
Giddings, J. R. History of the Rebellion (1864). 
Godkin, E. L. The Caucus and the Republican Party, Nation, VII, 4 

(1868). 
Goodnow, F. J. Politics and Administration in Government (1900). 
Goodnow, F. J. American Administrative Law (1905). 
Goodnow, F. J. Political Parties and City Government; Proceedings 

National Municipal League, V (1899). 
Goodnow, F. J. Comparative Administrative Law (1903). 
Gordy, J. P. History of Political Parties in the United States, I 

(1900). 
Gordy, J. P. Political History of the United Stales, II (1900). 
Greeley, H. The American Conflict, I (1864). 
Greeley, H. Political Text Book of i860 (i860). 

Hall, B. F. The Republican Party and its Candidates (1856). 

Halstead, M. History of National Political Conventions of the Cur- 
rent Presidential Campaign (i860). 

Hammond, J. D. History of Political Parties in New York (1845). 

Hart, A. B. Life of Salmon P. Chase (1899). 

Hoar, G. F. Autobiography of Seventy Years, I (1903). 

Holmes, A. Parties and Their Principles (1859). 

Hopkins, J. H. History of Political Parties in the United States 
(1900). 

Houghton, W. H. Conspectus of the History of Political Parties 
(1880). 



WORKS CONSULTED 241 

Jenks, J. S. History of Political Parties in New York (1894). 

Jenks, J. W. The Fundamental Principles of Politics in the United 
States from the Viewpoint of the American Citizen (1909). 

Johnston, A. History of American Politics (1879). 

Johnson, C. W. OMcial Proceedings of Republican National Con- 
ventions (1856, i860, 1864, 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888, 1892, 
1896, 1900, 1904). 

Julian, G. W. Political Recollections (1884). 

Julian, G. W. The First Republican National Convention, American 
Historical Review, IV, 313 (1899). 

Lalor, J. J. Cyclopaedia of Political Science, II, III (1893). 
Landon, J. S. Constitutional History and Government of the United 

States (1904). 
Lawton, G. W. The American Caucus System (1885). 
Lodge, H. C. Daniel Webster (1893). 
Long, J. D. The Republican Party (1888). 
Lothrop, T. J. William Henry Seward (1896). 

McClure, A. K. Recollections of Half a Century (1902). 
McClure, A. K. Our Presidents and How We Make Them (1902). 
McClure, A. K. A^braham Lincoln and Men of War Times (1892). 
McCulloch, H. Men and Measures of Half a Century (1888). 
McKee, T. H. National Conventions and Platforms (1900). 
McLaughlin, A. C. Lewis Cass (1899). 
McMaster, J. B. Life of Thurlow Weed (1896). 
McPherson, E. Political History of the United States during the 

Great Rebellion (1876). 
McPherson, E. Handbooks of Politics for 1868, 1872 and 1876. 
MacDonald, W. Select Documents Illustrative of the History of the 

United States (1898). 
Macy, J. Party Organization and Machinery (1904). 
Macy, J. Political Parties in the United States, 1846-1861 (1900). 
Macy, J. History of Political Parties in the United States (1897). 
Maverick, A. Raymond and New York Journalism (1870). 
Mead, E. D., ed. South Carolina Leaflets. 
Merriam, C. E. Primary Elections (1908). 
Meyer, R C. Nomination Methods (1902). 
Morgan, J. T. Party Conventions. North American Review, CLV, 

237 (1892). 
Morse, I. T. Abraham Lincoln. 
Miinsterberg, H. The Americans (1904)- 

Nation (1865-83). 



242. FORMATION OF REPUBLICAN PARTY 

New York Times (1854-64). 

New York Tribune. Daily and Weekly (1854-64). 

Nicolay, J. G. and Hay, J. Abraham Lincoln, I, II, IX (1905). 

Niles' Weekly Register, LXX (1846). 



Official Proceedings of the First Three Republican National Conven- 
tions of 1856, i860 o-nd 1864, prepared and published under the 
direction of the Republican national convention of 1892.^ Also 

the official proceedings for 1868, 1872, 1876, 1880, 1884, 1888,' 
1892, 1896, 1900, 1904 and 1908. 

Ormsby, R. McK. History of the Whig Party (i860). 
Ostrogorski, M, Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, 
I, II (1902). 

Patton, J. H. Democratic Party, Its Political History and InHuence 

(1884). 
Pierce, E. L. Charles Sumner (1893). 
Pike, J. S. First Blows of the Civil War (1879). 
Polk, J. K. The Diary of J. K. Polk during his Presidency, 1845-1849 

(1910). 
Putnam, J. O. Addresses. Principles of he Republican Party (1886). 
Raymond, H. J. Life, Public Services and State Papers of Abraham 

Lincoln (1865). 
Remsen, D. S. Primary Elections (1900). 
Rhodes, J. F. History of the United States from the Compromise of 

1850, I, II, III (1901). 
Roosevelt, T. Thomas H. Benton (1887). 
Roosevelt, T. American Ideals (1897). 

*The secretary of the Republican national convention of 1892 at 
Minneapolis, was directed to prepare and have published the proceed- 
ings of the first three Republican conventions, viz. : of the years 1856 
at Philadelphia, i860 at Chicago, and 1864 at Baltimore. The volume - 
also includes proceedings of the antecedent national Republican conv 
vention held at Pittsburg in February, 1856, as reported by Horace 
Greeley, a most valuable reprint and a sketch of the earliest Repub- 
lican national organization on record. 

' The official proceedings from 1868-1888 have all been reprinted un- 
der the direction of the national committee, by authority of a resolu- 
tion of the Republican national convention of 1900. 

These official reprints are uniformly cited in the text. 



WORKS CONSULTED .243 

,Schouler, J. History of the United States (1894- 1904). 
Schucker, J. W. Life of Salmon P. Chase (1874). 
Schurz, C. Henry Clay (1899). 
Schurz, C. Reminiscences of Carl Schurz (1907). 
Seilhaimer, G. O. Leslie's History of the Republican Party. I (1900). 
Seward, W. H. Works of W. H. Seward, IV (1853-90). 
Shaler, N. S. The Citizen (1904). 

Shaw, A. Political Problems of Ameican Development (1907). 
Shepard, E. M. Martin Van Buren (1888). 
Sherman, J. Recollections of Forty Years (1895). 
Smalley, E. V. The Republican Party (1880). 
Smith, H. H. All the Republican National Conventions (1892). 
Smith, G. Political History of the United States (1892). 
Smith, T. C. The Liberty and Free-Soil Parties in the Northwest 

(1897). 
Smith, T, C. Parties and Slavery (1850-1859). (American Nation, 

Vol. XVIII, edited by A. B. Hart.) (1905.) 
Stanwood, E. History of the Presidency (1898). 
Stanwood, E. American Tariff Controversies in the Nineteenth 

Century, II (1903). 
Stephens, A. H. War between the States, II (1868). 
Storey, M. Life of Charles Sumner (1900). 
Sumner, W. G. Politics in America, 1876 (1876). 
Sumner, C. Speech on the Republican Party (i860). 

Thompson, D. G. Politics in Democracy (1890). 

Thorpe, F. N. Constitutional History of the United States, I, II, III 
(1901). 

Tribune Almanac. Annual Volumes (1855-61). 

Tucker, J. R. The Constitution of the United States, a Critical Dis- 
cussion of its Genesis, etc. (1899). 

Turner, A. J. Genesis of the Republican Party (1891). 

Tweedy, J. History of the Republican National Conventions from 
1856 to 1898 (1910). 

Van Buren, M. Origin of Political Parties in the United States (1827). 
Von Hoist, H. E. Constitutional and Political History of the United 

States, IV, V, VI (1877-1892). 
Weed, T. Autobiography of Thurlow Weed, I, II (1884). 
Whig Almanac. Annual Volumes (1851-1855). 
Whitridge, F, W. Caucus System (1883). 
Willey, A. History of the Anti-Slavery Cause in the State and Nation 

(1886). 



244 FORMATION OP REPUBLICAN PARTY 

Wilson, H. History of the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in 

America, II (1872). 
Wilson, W. Division and Reunion (1893). 

Wilson, W. Constitutional Government in the United States (1908). 
Wilson, W. The State (1901). 

Winsor, J. Narrative and Critical History of America, VII (1888). 
Woodburn, J. A. Political Parties and Problems in the United States 

(1903). 

Also the collections of numerous pamphlets, Republican campaign 
text books, scrap books and handbooks of politics, addresses of local 
Republican clubs and of State and City central committees and other 
contemporary political tracts and contemporary records of State and 
local conventions and mass meetings and of the national conventions 
in the Columbia, Astor, Lenox and Mercantile Libraries in the City 
of New York. 



VITA 

The author was born in 1(S83 at the City of New 
York and received his preparatory education in Sachs' 
Collegiate Institute. In 1901 he entered Columbia 
College, and devoted his attention principally to the 
study ot* History and Political Science. 

In 1904 he began the study of Law in the Law 
School of Columbia University and in 1905 received his 
Bachelor of Arts degree; continuing his study of 
Political Science and History under Professors Bur- 
gess, Goodnow and Moore until 1906, when the degree 
of Master of Arts was conferred upon him. The 
author remained in residence at the Law School, re- 
ceiving in 1907 a Bachelor of Laws degree, and then 
obtained a year's leave of absence, returning in June, 
1908, to have the degree of Master of Laws conferred 
upon him. 

In 1907 he passed the oral examinations for the de- 
gree of Doctor of Philosophy. 



245 



LBJ^12 



THE FORMATION OF THE REPUB- 

LICAN PARTY AS A NATIONAL 

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION 



BY 

GORDON S. P. KLEEBERG, A.M., LL.M. 



SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS 

FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

IN THE 

Faculty of Political Science 
Columbia University 



NEW YORK 
1911 



I 



